Tales from Gundam Island
by Mendeia
Summary: A series of oneshots surrounding the events of "Tears of Revelry." Definitely read that first. These are the stories from before and after the events of TOR as well as some alternate perspectives on the mythology of the world itself. Rated T for slightly-worse than usual cannon-consistent violence.
1. Before the Dawn

This is the oneshot no one requested, but I couldn't not write. It's also kind of awful and a bit of a downer. Sorry about that. But, let's face it – while the end of the Gundam story is about a triumph of human will and peace, the start is...distinctly not that.

This is how it all began, how the tragic events of the prologue in "Tears of Revelry" came to pass.

If it makes you feel all kinds of sad, go read something more cheerful, okay? Next week's will be better.

Enjoy!

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Oneshot 1 - Before the Dawn

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"This has gone too far!" one of the Five shouted, running at his best speed. "Why are they attacking the Avatar when we are so close to victory?"

"It doesn't matter why," answered a second, his long cloak flapping in the air. "The man who gave that ill-considered order is already dead. It is merely a question of what happens now."

"I can't _believe_ we have to save the Avatar!" a third groused ruefully. "Assuming he doesn't save himself. But I believe the odds are against him without our intervention."

"It might be better if we didn't intervene," pointed out the fourth as he huffed along beside them. "If he dies, we will have many years to further our goals before he could again interfere."

"You make a good point," the fifth said, and they all began to slow down. "This Avatar is only vaguely sympathetic to our cause. The next will be a firebender, and the Fire Nation is notorious for their separatist views. The Avatar would grow up inundated in a society that believes as we do."

"Assuming he's born _in_ the Fire Nation," the first pointed out.

"If he's not, we simply rearrange things and move him," the second said airily. "To relocate a defenseless child to the circumstances of our preference is no difficulty."

"Then let us wait," said the third. "The death of the Avatar should settle matters for a time, giving the nations a moment to strike, and we can, of course, ensure they use it."

"The people will be afraid. The nations are always at their strongest when the Avatar is a child. In twenty years or so, the nations will be stronger and the Avatar will have spent a lifetime learning of the value of his native element as it is. We may even be able to ensure the masters who teach him to command the other elements are separatists as well," the fourth mused.

"Agreed," said the fifth. "Any further objections?"

There were none, so the Five proceeded more slowly. They still wished to witness the outcome, after all, for either way, they would have what they wanted.

That decision would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

-==OOO==-

"_Enough_!" roared Avatar Yuy, throwing off his attackers. His eyes streamed tears freely as he glanced across the battlefield and saw so many unmoving friends and allies, their broken bodies no longer repeating a heartbeat to him through the earth.

Avatar Yuy closed his eyes and drew upon the Avatar State. "_This ends now_!"

As he rose into the sky, chunks of earth rising with him, a shadow moved in the darkness.

Quinze shifted to watch his best friend, his life-long companion, draw himself into this highest cosmic power. Quinze could not yet speak around the damage to his body, but already his hands were moving over his own torso, the bloodied water steadily repairing the great gash to his chest that had probably punctured a lung. It took all his concentration to pull the broken rib back into place and begin rebuilding the muscles around it.

He never saw the assassin until the water on his hands jumped at the sudden charge in the air. Quinze looked up in time to see a bolt of lightning, almost purple with power, strike the rising Avatar down.

"_**NO**_!"

Quinze watched Yuy fall and his heart frizzled and died beneath his healing hands. He didn't even realize anymore he was trying to heal his body not with water, but with the liberally spilled blood.

"_Maybe they're right," Yuy sighed._

"_You can't believe that," Quinze argued. "We are one people, one world. All elements are connected. You know that."_

"_Yes, I do. But not everybody is ready for that truth," Yuy said, exhaustedly. "Perhaps there is some sense to allowing the nations to keep their order a little longer, until I have had more time to carry this lesson to the people. Then, perhaps, this could be done more easily."_

"_The people trust you," Quinze put an arm around his shoulders. "They are waiting for your wisdom to help define the path forward. Those who wish to separate and those who wish to remain are equally concerned and frightened. Neither side is good or evil. They are both simply lost. You are the one who must lead them."_

"_Yes, I know," Yuy smiled at him. "You believe I can navigate between both boulders to the correct path?"_

"_I believe in no one else so well," Quinze answered honestly._

"_Then I will believe in myself," Yuy said. "And as long as this world ends in peace for all, I will be content that you will help me along my own journey."_

The memory from earlier that very evening seemed to pierce Quinze's pain-filled haze. He pushed himself up, heedless of the many black-clad attackers still surrounding him as though they were no more than statues. Almost numb, he moved to Yuy's side, dropping to his knees in grass liberally wetted with the blood of the battle.

"Yuy?" his voice quavered. "Yuy? My friend?"

Shaking, he turned over the still body. The chest had been blackened and burned so deep Quinze could actually see the charred entrails and heart of his closest companion.

"Dead in the Avatar State!" cheered one reckless member of the ambush party breaking the eerie silence. "The Avatar is gone _forever_!"

"Forever," Quinze muttered numbly.

At the edge of the clearing, five men stood, utterly shocked. They watched as their own Order celebrated, dancing and hooting wildly as they surrounded the single survivor who clutched the broken body in a deathly-still embrace. They watched the sun's very first rays strike the gruesome scene, and as the long shadows fled, so too did their own agents. Soon the clearing was nothing but bodies and one half-alive witness.

"What…what do we do now?" one of the Five finally managed.

Two were still shocked to silence, but another found his voice. "We must make this right. Dividing the world to protect the peace is more important now than ever, but we…_we_ did this."

"There must be a way to recall the Avatar," said the fifth stubbornly. "There _must_. And we _will_ find it."

"Let us first ensure the Avatar is truly destroyed," the first managed. "But if he is, then we must act with whatever powers we can command to fill the void of his absence. We must ensure the right forces come to power, that we control the reactions of the nations and the people. We must spread our influence throughout the world to bring it to order."

"The Order doesn't have that kind of power," one of the shocked Five said at last. "We are too small, too disjointed, too…" he trailed off and gestured at the ruin before him.

"We do not, but the Order of the White Lotus does," another said with a sharp breath. "They do not know our identities yet. We need only use this to give ourselves entry."

"It could work," the third said slowly. "With both Orders under our command, we could take any actions we wished, move the world from below rather than above."

"But we also must find a way to undo what we have done," the fourth argued. "We cannot leave this as it is."

"Look," the fifth pointed.

Across the field, the lone survivor had finally risen. The Five believed he was weeping until he threw his head back and cackled loudly to the sky. His body was streaked with blood and mud and gore. As they watched, he began bending. The mud and the sopping pools of ruined bodies came at his call. Still laughing derangedly, he fashioned a horrible bier upon which to lie the blackened corpse of Avatar Yuy.

"We have to do something," the first of the Five said. "We can't leave him like this."

"Looks like a waterbender," commented the second. "I've heard that self-healing is very dangerous. And unless I was imagining things, I think he was healing wounds with blood, too."

"He's dangerous and powerful," the third said firmly. "We must deal with him."

"Then I know just the way," said the fourth. Striding out over the dusty-dry ground, he tried not to look too closely at where the bodies and mud and blood had been pooled in one hideous, macabre mess.

The waterbender's head snapped up, his eyes definitely showing signs of certain madness.

"Peace," the member of the Five said, hands up. "I and my companions are of the Order. And this," he gestured, "that has been done cannot be allowed to go unpunished. Will you help us?"

"His last wish was to unite the peoples of this world," Quinze choked around his tongue that was still trying to laugh. "All the peoples, not one side or another. I…I want that."

But his eyes suddenly glowed with a dark light. "_I want them __all__ to know his fear and pain_!"

"We can work with that," the representative of the Five said. "For now, let's get you to a proper healer. Then we can begin planning for the future."

They led Quinze away, and soon they had a healer working to correct some of the damage, both that done to him and that he had inflicted on himself. But even as they spoke to him, drew him closer and closer into their cause, there was a part of him that never listened.

There was a part of Quinze that had died while knee-deep in the bodies and blood of friends and allies and, most importantly, his Avatar. And what grew to replace that which had died would never truly be free of the moment that had birthed it. Quinze smiled and grew calm and stoic under the urging of the Five, and his sharp mind moved to the forefront and began to function for him.

But his soul was bathed and born in the blood of the ultimate loss, a loss he still intended to bring to the world no matter the time or the cost. He would make every living man, woman, and child feel his suffering. He would avenge Yuy and his dreams of peace.

Quinze managed to make himself smile at the right moment. "I would be honored," he answered whatever had been said.

"Then welcome to the Order of the Black Lotus, Grand Master Quinze."


	2. Growing Up Gundams

Almost let this one get away from me.

This is dedicated to DaughterofDante who was most excited about this idea. Don't worry, though – there will be a bit more child Gundams in a later story, too. But for now, I give you these little nuggets.

Enjoy!

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Oneshot 2 - Growing Up Gundams

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01.) Heero

He was hungry again. He was always hungry. At least this time there was someone camping nearby, near enough that he could smell the food on the cookfire. Creeping forward, Heero didn't notice the man until he'd already closed a hand on a hunk of cooling meat.

"Hey!"

Heero reacted instinctively, curling the food against his abdomen and rolling away. He sensed motion and struck out blindly.

The man stumbled back more in surprise than defeat. How could a child, probably only four or five years old, already command the earth to protect him? He made a swift decision.

Heero cried out as the soft ground that had cradled him went hard and still, fastening his ankles and forcing him to sit.

"It's okay," the man said gently. "I'm not going to hurt you. If you're hungry, eat."

Heero glared at him, but did not waste the invitation and began cramming meat into his mouth.

"Good," the man approved. "You can eat all you want. Do you have a name, boy?"

"Heero," he said proudly, still glaring.

"Quite an earthbender, Heero. My name is Odin."

Heero regarded him shrewdly. "Can you teach me _more_ earthbending?"

Odin smiled. "Yes, I can."

-==OOO==-

02.) Duo

"Kid, meet Howard."

"Since when do _you_ have a kid?" the man with the pointed greyish beard blinked at the fierce, tiny form before him.

"Since he robbed me blind!" Solo laughed. "Got hold of your stuff, too, but he gave it back. Eventually."

"Well, for that you can have pretty much anything you want," Howard grinned at the boy. "Hungry?"

The kid glared. "Only if you got good stuff."

Howard laughed and clapped the boy on the shoulder. "Come on in, kiddo. We got the good stuff all right." He began to lead the way into the Mechanist stronghold.

"Careful," Solo laughed too. "Once you invite him in, he seems to hang around."

"That's okay," Howard said. "I like the look of him. Smart and scrappy."

"Like you, old man."

"No way," the boy jutted his chin forward. "I'm _way_ more handsome. And smarter too."

"I believe you," Howard answered him seriously. "Take a look around. Anything you want to fix, go ahead. Break anything you want, too, but only if you can fix it again."

Food forgotten, the boy sped off into the world of Mechanist wonders.

"Sure that's a good idea?" Solo asked.

"Absolutely," Howard smiled knowingly.

-==OOO==-

03.) Trowa

There was nothing before the sky bison. There was nothing besides the sky bison.

He knew all about people – he'd seen them sailing around his island, and once or twice he'd ridden one of the bison to another part of land where people lived. He knew he was one of them and not a bison himself. Except he could fly, and he'd never seen any other people dance the air currents. So maybe he was a bison who just looked like a person?

It didn't matter. People didn't matter. Only the bison filled him with care and comfort and joy. High above the sea where the winds were strong and cool, that was the only place that had meaning. He was curious about people and their things and their lives, and the day he'd seen someone move the sea the way he moved the sky had filled him with a yearning to know.

But not enough to leave. The bison loved him, treated him as one of their calves. What out there could possibly be more than the warmth of a bison brother curled up at his side watching the clouds take their turn at sky dancing?

Until _they_ came.

-==OOO==-

04.) Quatre

Quatre had been running for days. Omashu had been so loud, so chaotic, and his chest had felt like it was boiling in his skin from the onslaught of it all. He'd fled, face seared with hot tears and almost insensible from pain. But at some point, the running _from_ Omashu had turned into running _to_ something, though Quatre didn't know what drew him westward until his feet bled.

It was a burning noon when he reached a flat rock overlooking the ocean. Quatre stopped moving for the first time in days and stared at the vastness.

And promptly collapsed.

An eternity later, Quatre's eyes fluttered open. Before he even became aware of the looming face and the kind brown eyes, he recognized a warm, calm silence in his heart.

"Hello young one."

"Um, hello?"

"What is your name?"

"Q-Quatre."

"And how old are you, Quatre?"

"S-seven."

"I can see that your heart is open and brave," the deep voice intoned, "but perhaps too open. It takes strength to carry the cares of all. Just as it takes strength to carry all five elements in one soul. Young as you are, I have summoned you to prepare you for both."

-==OOO==-

05.) Wufei

Wufei stood stiffly beside his uncle, his face uncommonly blank for a child. The Sage regarded him closely.

"Wufei, do you know why you are here?"

"I was born when the Avatar died," he recited. "You will test me for his soul."

The Sage looked to Wufei's uncle questioningly.

"He is very bright," the man explained. "After the death of his parents, I took him in. He's a good, honorable boy."

"Wufei," the Sage said kindly, "please wait in there."

Wufei had only just stepped inside the anteroom when his hand was seized in a chubby grip.

"Are you maybe the Avatar too? Yay!" a girl grinned brightly. "It'll be more fun if there are two of us. I'm Meiran."

"Wufei."

"When were you born?"

"At the birds' first cry of dawn."

"I was born just before that! That makes _me_ older!" she declared. "You'll be my little brother, then!"

"No I will not."

"Can you already firebend?"

"A little," Wufei admitted.

The girl preened smugly. "I can! I'm definitely your big sister, Wu-Wu!"

"My name is not Wu-Wu."

"It is now!"

"Children!" chided the Sage with a fond smile as he entered. "Enough. Come – it is time to begin."


	3. Noin's Day

This is more like an outtake than a oneshot, brought to you because my beta reader laughed SO HARD when this happened in the story and begged for the details. So here it is in full.

Enjoy!

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Oneshot 3 – Noin's Day

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The messenger hawks were arriving in _flocks_. Noin had never seen anything like it.

"Captain!" she shouted.

"Yes, ma'am!" the captain of the Republic City guards snapped a smart salute. His men were flying about the observation tower themselves, trying to snag all the different hawks coming in at the same time.

Noin quietly thanked any spirits who were listening that Princess Dorothy was elsewhere. After all, since Noin herself was not at Relena's side, neither did Dorothy need to be – in fact, today the City's Council was meeting on very private matters better kept far from the Fire Nation royal. Since Noin was taking a turn with the men in the central observation tower overlooking the city, Dorothy had taken herself off to speak to her own small contingent of guards.

"Report!" Noin ordered. Then, because there were simply too many birds coming in, she pushed her hands forward and created perches every few finger-lengths along the entire wall of the stone tower, providing places for the many birds to rest.

"It's...that is..." the captain had an armful of pages, most of which he hadn't even unrolled yet. Noin took pity on the man and plucked one from the top of the pile. It was wrapped in a dark green ribbon, which signified important intelligence.

"Allow me," she said as she opened the scroll. At once, her eyes widened.

"Captain, assemble the guards at once!" she cried, and something in her wide-eyed and yet dangerously calm expression must have brought the man back from the chaos of the moment. He dropped the pile he held and began bellowing orders.

"You there! Sound the alert! And you four – contain those birds or at least send them away!"

As the scene began to reassemble itself into something like order, the captain stepped to where Noin had been reading the details in the message.

"Lieutenant Noin, what is it?"

When Noin looked back up from the last line of the message, her face was implacable, set hard as stone. But the man was an earthbender himself, and he could sense the very slight tremor in the ground around her and the cracks she was unconsciously creating and resealing beneath her feet in her agitation.

"The Fire Nation has declared war on us, captain," she said.

To his credit, the man didn't waste time with shock. Instead, he nodded sharply once before bellowing all new orders and, when they weren't obeyed quickly enough, backing them up with flying boulders to speed things along.

Suddenly there was a crash.

"Relena!"

Noin didn't really recall leaving the observation tower. She realized later she had simply thrown herself from the low walls, gathering a portion of one of them and bending it on the way down as she slid over rooftops and into the street. There was nothing important enough to take her focus from getting to Relena as quickly as possible.

The Fire Nation had _declared war_. If Dorothy already knew – _or what if she had known in advance?_ – it meant Relena had never been in so much danger.

Republic City flew by, and before Noin could even take a deep breath she stood at the foot of the splendid building that housed the Council. She charged straight up the broad staircase, cognizant that the city's alarm was sounding in full now. Guards spilled from every corner of the city's center, and several individuals not in uniform but loyal anyway were running through the streets. To a man, they were looking to Noin for guidance.

"Protect the Council!" she shouted as she vanished into the building.

The hallways had never seemed so long as they did in that moment. But as she ran, Noin's senses were racing ahead of her, and they warned her as she rounded the corner to brace herself.

"Good afternoon, Lieutenant Noin." Dorothy's smile was pure calculation.

"Princess Dorothy," Noin came to a halt and planted herself, hating that she was not between the Fire Nation princess and the door to the Council chambers beyond. "I assume you have heard?"

"I have," Dorothy was still smiling. "It's very exciting, don't you think?"

"That's not the word I would use, no." Noin narrowed her eyes. But she was silently grateful for Dorothy's love of grandstanding.

Because while the Fire Nation princess was busy posing and smiling, Noin was bending.

It wasn't something every earthbender could do, but Noin could bend earth she couldn't see. And she knew the chambers beyond intimately, every column, every tile. While she shifted her body as if bracing for a battle against Dorothy, Noin was actually moving earth in the room beyond as a warning.

"Contrary to what you might believe," Dorothy said almost sweetly except for the chill that ran up Noin's spine at the sound of her tone, "I am not here to assassinate Relena Peacecraft."

"Aren't you?" Noin asked.

"No. As I have said before, I am a great admirer of Relena's. I would like to watch her struggle with the situation, learn from how she responds. There is no more fascinating entertainment than the birth of a new world, and I would like to be here to watch it."

"Well," Noin felt her face contort into a smile like a belled challenge, "I'm afraid I cannot permit that. My duty is to protect Relena Peacecraft first and foremost, and while your..._interests_ may be peaceable, you will forgive me if I cannot accept the risk."

"Oh, must it come to this?" Dorothy asked.

"Oh yes," Noin cracked her knuckles. "It definitely must."

"Enough!"

Both women were surprised not just by the voice, but by from whence it came – Relena was standing and peering down at the two of them from a hole in the ceiling high above. Noin nodded once to Pagan, standing ready at Relena's elbow. Of course the old campaigner would have evacuated the Council through the very walls of the room. And if her earth-sense was correct, hidden just out of sight of the hole was the Kyoshi warrior Middie, waiting and ready should Dorothy make an attack.

"Princess Dorothy," Relena said, and her voice rang with authority and confidence, "my personal feelings on the matter are irrelevant. You have been a guest in my house and I am...grateful for the time we spent learning from one another."

"I hear a 'however' coming, Relena," Dorothy called almost tauntingly.

"However," Relena raised an eyebrow, "I cannot permit your presence within my nation under the current circumstance. I would ask you to leave the city quietly."

"But it is by your side that I will learn the most, don't you think?"

Noin bit her tongue in two places to keep from snarling at that entreating, manipulative question.

"I'm afraid," Relena said stonily, "that you will have to learn from afar." Then her face softened. "I'm sorry it has to be this way, you know. I would have liked to have perhaps gotten the chance to help you see things differently."

"Oh, Relena," Dorothy's smile curled broadly. "I feel the same way."

"And _I feel_ like escorting you out of the city," Noin snapped. "Princess Dorothy, you heard the Peacecraft. You have been asked to leave Republic City. Will you go quietly?"

There was a long, tense moment.

Then Dorothy began to drop into a firebending pose.

But Noin was quicker. Noin had, after all, spent months at a firebending academy on Capital Island. Before Dorothy had set her root, Noin stamped into the floor and a section of tile shot upwards, tipping the princess over backwards.

Dorothy turned the fall into a roll and came up with sparks and wisps of flame licking around her.

"Either way you're leaving Republic City," Noin promised darkly. "It's just a question of how many of us it takes."

Because Noin knew what Dorothy couldn't. Noin knew that the building was absolutely _surrounded_ by loyal Republic City benders.

"And here I thought we had become such good friends," Dorothy drawled.

"Not a chance," Noin grumbled.

Then another person appeared around the corridor behind Noin, the captain of the guard.

"Lieutenant," he said with a wary glance at the princess, "we have apprehended the entire Fire Nation diplomatic party. We are prepared to lead them out of the city under heavy guard. Do you need assistance?"

Noin looked to Dorothy and raised an eyebrow. "That's up to her."

"Very well," Dorothy smoothly rose and dropped her arms. "After all, I would hate for our little skirmish to endanger _dear_ Relena." She smiled up at Relena above. "If the Peacecraft wishes for me to leave, I suppose I must obey her will. After all, she has been such a _good friend_ to me while I've been here."

"Goodbye, Dorothy," Relena said politely, but coldly.

But the moment was broken by a flurry of wings as a bird ducked in through some door or window, diving straight to Relena. There was a certain amount of confusion while Pagan and Middie both tried to intercept the hawk, but it stubbornly fought them off and landed on Relena's shoulder, almost shoving its messenger tube under her nose until she drew it out to read.

"What is it?" Noin called up to her.

"Noin," Relena's blue eyes were bright with warring emotions. "Please escort Princess Dorothy and her entourage out of the city by the eastern pass as quickly as possible. We have an incoming party asking for sanctuary as emissaries from Omashu, and they have a wounded friend."

Relena balled up the message and dropped it through the hole to Noin, who read it with a mix of alarm and surprise. When she looked up to Dorothy, her whole expression closed. It was beyond time for the Fire Nation princess who had been a thorn in Noin's side since arriving to finally leave.

Dorothy seemed to wake to sense and did no more taunting, allowing herself to be led away under the contingent of guards who surrounded her. The march through the streets of Republic City was as tense as any night Noin had ever spent waiting on the front lines of a fight for the first attack. But Dorothy, her shoulders square and high, her face upturned with pride, made no aggressive moves at all.

When they reached the pass specified in the message, Noin ordered her men to clear the roads back into the City, sensing from the urgency of the terse writing that she would need to move quickly for the sake of the injured Une. This left her largely alone, with only a few border guards for company against Dorothy and the rest of her Fire Nation entourage.

"You will look after Relena, won't you?"

"I—what?" Noin was caught utterly surprised.

"She's such a fascinating, marvelous person!" Dorothy smirked. "You mustn't let my dear Grandfather harm her."

"If you're so worried about him, defect from the Fire Nation and fight against him!" Noin practically exploded. "Otherwise, stop playing games with us. A blind badgermole could see your kindness is all fake."

"Games is what we have to keep us alive," Dorothy replied, but there was something in her light eyes that had turned deadly serious. "We survive because we are clever, not because we are kind. This is why Relena Peacecraft will ultimately fail, and her dreams with her."

"Well, it's a good thing I don't believe a word of that," Noin replied hotly. "And it's people like you we have to fight to prove it!" She scowled at the princess. "And we will. I promise you that. We'll prove it even if we have to defeat your whole country!"

"I look forward to it, lieutenant," Dorothy actually curtsied, and the sarcasm dripped from her.

It was only the distant rumble, like thunder in the far mountains, warning of the approach of those claiming sanctuary that saved Dorothy from a true fight with Noin.

"I'll say this," Noin thought, angry enough to blast a mountain to pieces. "If I never have to deal with Princess Dorothy again, it will be too soon!" And suddenly she was seized with a moment of silliness and fought not to giggle. Dorothy glared at her, but she focused on the approaching earthbender and ignored her.

"Every moment I've spent with Dorothy has been the most obnoxious, repulsive of my whole life," Noin found herself thinking. "No wonder it feels so refreshingly pleasant to kick her out."

Yes, Noin would happily accept every simpering manipulation for this final moment of freedom.


	4. Honor Guard

This is the oneshot requested by the amazing reviewer Miranda Shadowind, who was also the mastermind behind the awesome art we received for Tears of Revelry. I was asked to make use of the OCs from Miranda Shadowind's existing stories, and I have tried to be as true to them as their author would ask. If you like the twins, definitely look them up in Miranda Shadowind's works!

The world is so vast, you guys. Not this – not this fic. But the real world. You never know where you'll leave your fingerprints and whose lives they will touch. It's been a week that I've spent thinking about a lot, and the conclusion I've reached? I'm happy to be here. If you read these stories and find something true in them, then it's worth it to me.

End vague contemplation. (Sorry)

The next 3 weeks will encompass a few different requests as well as a big 3-part story. It started one way and then abruptly smacked me in the brain and said "No, let's go THIS way!" So I did. I hope you'll like it.

Anyways, onto this update. Once again, thank you Miranda Shadowind for your unending support and praise and interest. You're a rockstar!

Enjoy!

* * *

Oneshot 4 – Honor Guard

* * *

The summons arrived via an enormous grey-blue messenger hawk with a white chest. The headwoman of Kyoshi Island was right in the middle of a meeting with the island's elder council, but she excused herself to bear the hawk on her shoulder out of the airy meeting house to begin the climb up the narrow path into the islands headlands.

"Good morning, Sifu Kiyu," came the polite greeting. The Kyoshi headwoman was not surprised at the slim young man that met her long before she had reached the somewhat isolated homestead, nor that she had not seen him until he chose to reveal himself. Rather, she would have been far more surprised if neither of the pair who made their home here had intercepted her.

"Good morning, Kayle," she greeted him with a smile. "Where is Krysta today?"

"Still practicing," he answered. "She's determined to get the Dragon Lotus form right before sunset."

"I have something for you both," Kiyu said. "If you will interrupt her when she is ready, I will wait at the house."

Kayle nodded and moved off into the undergrowth. Even knowing him for so many years, Kiyu was still impressed with the boy's strength and grace. Both the twins, Krysta and Kayle, had taken to the arts of combat as if born with blades in their hands, and not for the first time, Kiyu was glad of it.

As she continued up the path to their home, Kiyu reflected on the strange lives of the Kyoshi Island twins. They had been born on the island, but soon left to travel with their mother and father, the former a Kyoshi Warrior herself and the latter a swordsman of great renown in both the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom. They had been babes when Avatar Yuy had been killed, and Kiyu had gone several years without any knowledge of them while the world descended into chaos. But one stormy day a small craft washed up on the island's far shore. The twins' mother had given her life in an attempt to flee the iron control of the Fire Nation to reach her native land. From then on, Kiyu had raised the twins herself with the help of the village, building on the skills they had learned from their parents and providing a safe haven in a dangerous world.

But their peace was not to last. When the twins were ten years old, the Order of the Black Lotus had struck against Kyoshi Island, attempting to terrorize its legendarily independent people into submission. They had joined the island's defensive force, Kayle losing an eye in the battle, and the Black Lotus had proved to be too strong. The twins, along with many other warriors, had been taken captive to be sold as traitors to the Fire Nation. The Order of the White Lotus had intervened, however, freeing the prisoners while in transit and recruiting them to their efforts. Krysta and Kayle, angered at the evils they saw in the world and possessed of great skill already, had eagerly joined the Order.

That was the last Kiyu had known of them until after the Battle of Republic City, when they had returned to Kyoshi Island with the complement of Kyoshi Warriors who had volunteered to aid the United forces. Since then, they had kept mainly to themselves in the little house that had been their mother's, emerging only when the other Warriors were covering new material.

The headwoman glanced around the aggressively neat little house, certain that one of the twins was far more responsible for its impeccable state than the other. If she had been more of a mother to the twins than a benefactor, she might have begun making tea for them all. Instead, she sat primly on the mat reserved for guests to wait. Even a few years with them as children, Kiyu knew she was still very much an outsider to the pair.

A few moments later, the door slid open and the twins entered together. They were an interesting set of contradictions – Krysta wore the full regalia of a Kyoshi Warrior, but her brother was garbed mainly in the style of the Fire Nation elite like his father. The flowing green silks of the former were a stark contrast to the black and dark red sleeveless tunic of the latter. But what united them was their identical swords, designed by their father in their infancy and all they retained of his legacy. The blades bore a unique decoration – on one side, a dragon's shape undulated along the blade, but on the other, it was the form of a stork in flight. Krysta's first weapon would always be a Kyoshi fan, but she had learned swordwork as well and when she and her brother fought together, they were virtually unstoppable.

"Good morning, headwoman," Krysta said, dropping to kneel on her mat while shifting her sword so it didn't stab her twin as he took his place beside her. "Sorry for making you wait."

"Don't worry," she smiled as Kayle kneeled. "What I have for you is too important for me to have delayed in bringing it to you, even if I caught you by surprise."

"What is it?" Kayle asked curiously.

Kiyu tapped the messenger bird still on her shoulder and he turned to offer the rolled scroll to the twins. Both grabbed for it, but Krysta was quicker. She opened it, Kayle subtly leaning to read over her shoulder.

"By request of Relena Peacecraft of Republic City, you have been invited to a private audience in Republic City."

Kayle looked up. "A private audience? Why?"

Krysta shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Will you accept the invitation?" Kiyu asked.

The twins looked at one another, their identical dark eyes communicating so much more than words could express. They nodded.

"Good," Kiyu rose. "There is a ship leaving for Republic City in a day or two. I will tell them to make space for you."

"Wait!" Krysta asked, looking knowingly at their guest. "What aren't you telling us?"

Kiyu smiled. "You'll find out soon enough."

As she swept out of the room, Krysta gathered herself to demand answers, but her brother caught her arm. "There's no point," he said. "She'll never tell us if she doesn't want us to know."

Krysta might have kicked at the floor in annoyance except she was still in full regalia which demanded more dignity than that. "You're right."

"It can't be a trap," Kayle continued. "The headwoman would never betray us."

"It's Relena Peacecraft. She wouldn't set a trap for us anyway." Krysta sighed. "I hate feeling like I don't know what's going on."

"Which is what makes you a good spy," her brother teased.

At that, Krysta brightened. "And don't you forget it!" She turned towards the back door. "Come on. If we're leaving that soon, we only have another day to finish learning the Dragon Lotus."

"Which is a Kyoshi Warrior technique," Kayle said reasonably, "so I'm learning it…why exactly?"

Krysta grinned at him. "So I have someone to train with!"

-==OOO==-

The journey on the ship that chugged northward was enough to test even a monk's patience, but the twins were well used to long travel and times of boredom. Their years as part of the White Lotus had taught them the value of resting when rest was possible, and of sharpening their skills when time for it presented itself. The ship was a Mid-Water Tribe trading vessel, so it made many stops, but Krysta and Kayle kept mostly to themselves in a small room beneath the bow cleared out for their use. The rolling of the sea was nothing new to them, but it did test their skills for there is nothing worse than attempting the serene control of a martial arts form while the floor bounces up and down. By the time they reached Republic City, they could have met a true swordmaster in combat on a cloud and stood fairly good odds of, if not defeating him, at least avoiding falling down.

The ship was met at the dock by soldiers wearing the official guard uniform of the United Republic of Nations.

"Are you Krysta and Kayle?" the lead guard asked formally.

"Yes, we are," Kayle spoke promptly while Krysta scanned the area. She had a feeling that there was something she was missing as she looked over the busy docks and the shining city beyond. She'd been here before, of course, and helped to defend it from the Fire Nation at the time of the Avatar's triumphant return. Now, though, all her instincts were on edge.

"This way, please," the guard said, the escort falling into formation around them. It was a slightly strange parade they made as they wound through the streets to the Council building. Krysta noticed that Kayle, too, was on edge. She flicked him a reassuring glance and he gave her a tiny smile in return. Yes, he knew as well as she did that even if this was the most elaborate trap in history, they were equal to it.

Once within the Council building, the escort led the way to an area somewhat to the rear of what Krysta and Kayle thought would be the main audience chamber. The room was large and domed and mostly barren of any kind of furniture.

"I don't like it, Krys," Kayle said softly, moving to her side.

"Me either," she whispered back. She drew out her fan and flipped it once in her hand to steady her.

Suddenly the floor before them split and two black-clad figures erupted from the hole. Without a word, they attacked.

Krysta found herself paired off against someone wielding a single long sword, but after a few traded blows she guessed he was also a firebender. There was just something in his movements that seemed familiar to her from too many years of fighting against the tyranny of the Fire Nation. So Krysta began striking him as hard as she could, driving him to the defensive. There wasn't a firebender alive who would fight with _only_ a sword once pushed to his limit. After a few blows, flames erupted to close the hole in the fighter's defenses.

"Got you," she grinned ferally at him. She kept the fan in her right hand but drew her father's sword in her left, giving her a better balance against a firebending swordsman.

"Not yet," replied a sharp voice and the firebender launched a brutal attack. Krysta dodged and took an instant to check on her brother.

To one side, Kayle was holding his own against a fighter wielding twin blades, oddly curved. Kayle was not as hampered as most assumed with his halved sight, and he made good use of the misconception by feinting to that side defensively for a while before switching his blade to that hand and making a hard strike with it. But this time when he saw his opening, his opponent did not seem surprised at all. Though Kayle could not tell anything of the fighter behind the black mask, he watched the calm, almost calculating moves warily.

Krysta was forced to execute a desperate cartwheel to escape her opponent's flashing weapon and another blast of fire, and as she did she could feel the blade catch her just below the shoulder across her back. She gave only a grunt of pain, but it was enough to distract Kayle as he turned in sudden fear.

"Krys!" he called out, striking away one of the two curved swords and starting to run for his sister. But there was a sharp bite of a metal edge on his ankle and he lost his footing, upended by the dual-swordsman's off-handed blade. Kayle hit the ground with a hard thump, knocking the air from his chest. Before he could rise, one of the curved swords touched to his neck.

"Stay down," came a firm order.

Krysta came out of her spin to her brother on the ground and she saw red in her rage. She launched herself at her firebender fiercely, putting everything she had into her fan and her blade. She was a whirling storm of fury and skill, but she could not seem to overcome her enemy. He, at least, didn't seem able to overcome her, either. They traded equal blows again and again.

Suddenly Krysta spotted an opening, one where she could strike to disable rather than kill, and she went for it. The pommel of her sword came down on the firebender's collarbone, hitting a pressure point and cutting off his chi on that side. He swiveled away from her with a growl and raised his remaining working arm menacingly.

"That's enough!" shouted a new voice.

To Krysta's surprise, her opponent immediately drew up as if standing at attention. She watched him warily, but he seemed to be ignoring her. She turned back to her brother.

"Come on," the fighter with the curved swords had a hand out. Kayle hesitated for a moment before accepting the help back to his feet. "Nice work."

"Uh, thanks?" Kayle said warily.

From the far end of the room came four figures. But Krysta's attention was arrested on just one of them.

"Duo?! Is that you?"

"Sure is!" the Gundam answered with a grin. "Nice to see you haven't lost your stuff, Krissie."

"What's going on?" Krysta demanded. Beside her, her firebending opponent removed his mask.

"A test," he answered solemnly.

"Meet Wufei," Duo gestured. "One of the Gundams. This is Heero and Trowa," he pointed to the other two young men that flanked him, "and that one's Quatre."

Kayle's opponent pulled off his own mask and smiled brightly. "Nice to meet you," he bowed.

Kayle's mouth was open like a fish, but he managed a polite bow in return. Krysta, however, advanced on Duo.

"What's going on here? Why did the Gundams attack us?" Suddenly she remembered something else and gulped. "Make that why did the _Avatars_ attack us?"

"Because Duo said you could handle it," Heero said with a small shrug.

Krysta was fuming but Wufei appeared at her elbow. "You are injured. I apologize. I should have been more careful."

She tossed her head. "It's fine." Then she looked at where he was favoring his arm. "I did get you pretty good there, though. Want me to...?"

"That will not be necessary," Wufei answered stiffly. To Krysta's surprise, he moved to Duo, who expertly dug his fingers into the pressure point and corrected the pinch. She wouldn't have guessed somebody that formal and distant would turn to Duo of all people.

But then, she'd listened to the words of the Avatar that day not long ago, words of unity and oneness. She didn't know what it all meant, but maybe it was a start in explaining the odd way the five Gundams never seemed to lose track of one another, never seemed to be aware that they were covering one another's blind spots, that they moved together even when they were doing completely different things.

"We're sorry for the ambush," spoke the woman who had accompanied them. "Duo said you were the best, so we thought you could handle a little challenge." Her voice was contrite but there was humor in her indigo eyes.

Krysta moved to her brother's side, noting as she did that Quatre moved a bit out of her way. She drew up next to him but did not touch him, nor voice her worry. She just met his eyes and waited for him to affirm silently that he was all right. Only then did she turn back to Duo.

"So what's this all about? And what did you tell them?"

It was Heero who spoke up. "Relena Peacecraft is forming a special group of fighters to help protect herself and other important people from any remaining Black Lotus agents. General Noin is the only person other than ourselves and Chancellor Millardo permitted to choose the warriors, and we will only accept those we can prove are strong enough to defend her."

"I told them about how we met," Duo said.

Krysta snorted. "Did you tell them how you blew our cover?"

"I did _not_ blow your cover," he scowled. "I got ambushed! It's your own fault you broke cover to help me out! I didn't even ask for it! You just decided flinging tea trays around was more interesting than serving the stuff!"

"Regardless," Kayle stepped quickly in before his sister could wind up into an argument, "you obviously remembered us from that day."

"When we first made our list of potential recruits," Trowa spoke for the first time, "you two were the only ones Duo would name."

"He says you are not just skilled, which we have proved for ourselves," Quatre said. "He says you're dedicated, that you'll protect Relena and anyone else no matter what. We can't always be here in Republic City, and we need people we can trust to leave behind."

"So whaddaya say?" Duo grinned. "You two hold your own okay against two Gundams, including one really cranky firebender and one empath who can read your moves before you make them. You fought for the United Republic when you were here. And you're good at getting yourselves out of trouble. That's most of the requirements."

"There is one more," Noin said warningly. "You have to be able to protect whoever needs protecting, even if you personally would rather _not_ protect them. For example, Princess Dorothy of the Fire Nation." She looked at the twins sharply. "If you can't honestly swear that you'd defend her the same way you would the Avatars or Relena herself, we can't use you."

Krysta and Kayle traded glances. Kayle's face moved a little and Krysta knew he was on board, but only if she agreed. They were a team, and he would rather walk away from such an important job and an exciting possibility than stay without her. She smiled at him.

"We're in!" Krysta said with a smile. "But I'm allowed to annoy Dorothy, right?"

"Sure," Noin shrugged. "Duo does."

"This is going to be great!" Duo cheered, pumping his fist in the air triumphantly. "Now maybe somebody else will see the value in, um…" he looked around suspiciously before shrugging and finishing, "reminding that snooty princess that she was so totally wrong about _everything_."

"Are you certain this is a good idea?" Wufei looked to Noin.

She laughed. "No! But Duo gave them the okay, and they fought well against you and Quatre, and that's good enough for me."

"Come on," Quatre smiled at the twins and began to lead the way back into the main building. "There's a few others for you to meet that you'll be working with, and we'll want to introduce you to our hawks so you can reach us, and you'll want to set up quarters and…"

As he rattled off the things to accomplish, Krysta and Kayle exchanged grins. The twins knew that they were having the same strange feeling of homecoming that they'd only known a few times in their turbulent lives. But this, being here in the center of building up the peace and protecting the people most able to do it, this was what they had wanted to do since the first moment their mother and father hand put their first weapons in their hands.

"_Psst_," Duo hissed at them in a low whisper.

Krysta and Kayle turned and looked at where he was bringing up the rear of their little procession.

"_Remember that horrible swamp leaf tea you made me? Well, I'm thinking Dorothy deserves a nice big cup of it with her dinner_…"

The twins grinned. Oh, yeah. This was _exactly_ where they wanted to be.


	5. Ghosts of the Past 1

This is a oneshot that sort of grew and expanded into a three-shot. The original prompt came from saiyuri_dahlia for something to do with the boys' childhoods or something to do with Quatre interacting with the Spirit World. This three-shot is sort of the result of all that plus a few other little ideas I managed to tie together.

So here is part 1 of 3 for saiyuri_dahlia. Watch for the next two parts in the upcoming weeks.

Enjoy!

* * *

Oneshot 5 – Ghosts of the Past: Part 1

* * *

"Tell me a story," Duo pleaded with wide, unfocused eyes.

Heero blinked at him.

"Pleeeeeeeeeease?"

Trowa shrugged. "There isn't a great deal else for us to do right now."

Heero glared at him.

"Besides, it might keep him quiet," Trowa added helpfully.

"_Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee_…"

"All right!" Heero snapped. "Just…stop that."

"You love me," Duo grinned dopily. "I can tell. You luuuuuuuurve me!"

Trowa made a sound suspiciously like a snort but turned it into a cough. Still, the bonds of the Avatar Soul that connected them betrayed his amusement to the other two.

"Do _you_ want to do this?" Heero asked him.

"No! I want Heero! Heero Heero my nearo Heero so clearo Heero little mousedeero!"

"Better tell him something," Trowa advised, eyes dancing with mirth, "or he'll keep going."

"You know I will!"

"If we get out of this alive, I might kill you both," Heero menaced without any real heat. Then he shifted to bend the sand around them, shoring up the walls of the little enclosure he had built to hold against the fierce sandstorm outside.

There had been reports that the famed Library of Wan Shi Tong had reappeared in the Si Wong Desert sometime after the Gundam Avatars had first united their powers in the Battle of Republic City. The Gundams had put off investigating for several months, partially because they were legitimately busy with a great deal of work to get the world on the right path, and partially because if the Library _had_ returned, they didn't want to risk every knowledge-hungry scholar or adventurer going looking for it. Wan Shi Tong's temper was legendary, and it was enough trouble keeping the younger, less powerful spirits appeased without irritating the great owl. But the rumors had persisted and in the months since the end of the war, seven or eight different travelers had ventured into the desert never to return. The Avatars could avoid it no longer.

The five had spent several days criss-crossing the vast desert on Triton, searching for any sign of either the lost seekers or the Library itself with absolutely no luck. Then a hawk had come from Rashid of the Maganacs requesting Quatre's presence in Omashu to settle some kind of disagreement. The Gundams had decided that they should split up to keep looking for the missing people in the desert as well as the Library while Quatre attended to his familial responsibilities. Wufei had gone with him on Triton, leaving the remaining three Gundams with a sand-sled to travel via sandbending and airbending. Even split by a fairly vast distance, all five would know if anything dire befell the others.

Of course, "anything dire" did not include Duo attempting to waterbend the toxins out of the desert cacti to refresh their supply of drinking water, failing at it, and promptly dosing himself with a massive amount of the hallucinatory liquid. The sudden sandstorm had provided a welcome break from trying to keep Duo on the sand-sled, when his present inclination was to wander off bonelessly muttering to himself.

"What kind of story do you want to hear?" Heero asked him, satisfied that his walls would hold up, reinforced by the sand-sled.

"Tell me about when you were an ickle bitty bunny Heero!" Duo cheered, his eyes far too wide.

"Roger that," Heero answered dryly, steadfastly ignoring Trowa's increasing amusement. He glanced around.

"I was taught sandbending by Sifu Odin when I was approximately nine years old," he said. "The technique is-"

"Nooooo," whined Duo. "Don't make it booooooring! Come on, Hee-Hee!"

Heero growled and Trowa barked a laugh. "He has a point," the airbender said idly. "You could at least attempt an entertaining story if we have to listen to his inanity for a while yet."

"Define entertaining."

"Able to elicit an emotional reaction or stimulate an intellectual interest or engagement in the audience," Trowa replied promptly. After all, he was still performer himself.

"Since you clearly know what is needed, you tell it," Heero said.

"No! Nononononononono…"

Trowa shrugged at where Duo was flinging his head back and forth with each iteration of the word "no" with increasing desperation. "Apparently I won't do."

Suddenly Duo stopped. He fixed his eyes on Heero. "Tell me a scaaaaaaary story, Heero!"

From the annoyed folds of his expression, a slight dark light began to burn. "Very well."

"This isn't going to be something stupid like a made-up haunted sword, is it?" Trowa asked, becoming interested.

"No," Heero shook his head. "This happened to _me_." He tipped his face down and began the tale, his monotonous voice flowing with the words even though he never looked up and never moved.

"When I was young, Sifu Odin took me on many journeys around the world. I didn't know it then, but I now realize he was investigating the Order of the Black Lotus and later the Five themselves. One day he seemed very nervous. We weren't far from the area where Lady Une discoverd the underground hideout of the Order along with many of its records before the Battle of Republic City. On such journeys, Sifu Odin would leave me by myself because some of his missions were very dangerous. It was not uncommon for me to be left alone waiting for him for as much as a week.

"I had been staying in a small hut we built together in the middle of the woods for two days when it happened.

"It had been raining all afternoon so I had stayed inside practicing my earthbending. But as the rain stopped, I felt something move in the earth. At first I thought it was a mudslide, but it was too small for that. It was…like an ant crawling on your arm, but under my feet in the earth. I could not feel anyone around, but the sensation of something moving would not go away.

"I opened the door of our stone hut to see that the ground around me was…changed.

"We had built our shelter in a thickly-wooded area, and unless you were an earthbender or knew what you were looking at, you would only see a large boulder rising out of the undergrowth. But now that undergrowth was pressed flat. At first, I thought it was the rain that had pounded it down. But as I looked, I realized that the brush and grasses had truly been flattened and pressed into the wet ground, as though smashed with a foot twice as wide as I am tall.

"As I studied this strangeness, I felt the earth move again. And long lines of stone rose up through the crushed undergrowth to leave marks on the surface. I did not know what the lines meant, and I sensed there was no one nearby, neither man nor badgermole, that could have made them. The lines began almost at my feet and stretched away into the woods, the path cleared as if by earthbending.

"I believed that my location had been compromised, which meant Sifu Odin was in danger. I assumed that whoever was bending the earth was farther away than I could sense, but since they already knew I was there, I had no advantage in remaining where I was. So I gathered my few supplies and began to follow the strange lines out into the forest.

"I walked until well after sunset. By then I had covered such distance that no earthbender or badgermole could be responsible, and I knew that, but I could not bring myself to go back. The lines continued to stretch before me, and each time I thought I had approached the end of them, more would rise up out of the earth and cross my path. By the time the only light left to me was feeble starlight, I was deep in the forest, totally lost.

"Then there was a gust of arctic-cold air and clouds blotted out all the light. I could have lit a torch, but my earth senses were strong enough that I felt I could go on without it. I felt the marks move again, the lines getting larger and more pronounced all around me. And then at the edge of my awareness I felt something new.

"It was a crater in the forest, a deep bowl of earth where nothing grew. I could not turn away now even if I had wanted to. I followed the lines to the edge and looked down.

"There was something lit down there, but my earth sense told me it was empty.

"I crawled down the side of the crater, drawn towards that tiny spot of light, no bigger than a thumbnail. The light was an odd, sickly blue color, and as I got closer I could almost see it pulsing. The ground under my feet felt strange. It was cold, and dead somehow. My earth senses were much weaker, as though I were trying to sense through metal but not like any metal I had ever known before. Almost like trying to sense the earth through a layer of water and wood.

"Finally I reached the center of the crater. The light was so tiny I thought it must be some kind of insect. I reached out my hands to grasp it and pluck it out of the air so I could examine it. But when my fingers touched the light, I felt a rush of cold like a wall of frigid water.

"I heard a distant screaming and howling.

"Then nothing.

"When I came to, I found myself looking into Sifu Odin's face. He was as frantic as I had ever seen him. I was also buried to the neck in dirt so cold and dead I thought for sure it was ice until Sifu Odin parted it to release me. I looked around and realized I had been in the crater long enough for my stomach to ache with hunger and for my fingers and toes to turn blue with cold. The sun was already high in the sky and sinking towards sunset.

"Sifu Odin carried me out of the crater and sped with me through the woods, never looking back and not saying a word until much later when we had stopped for the night in a village some distance away. He told me that he had left me for six days, and he had been looking for me for three more. Somehow, I lost a full seven days in the earth in that crater, and even now I have no memory of what transpired."

At last Heero looked up, his eyes remote and unreadable.

"I learned later that that crater is all that is left of the place where Avatar Yuy was struck down and died."

Duo's eyes were enormous in his pale face and he gulped loudly.

"Heero," Trowa rocked a little on the sand, green eyes serious, "is this true?"

"It is," Heero affirmed. "Sifu Odin forbade me from ever returning to that area again, and for all the years he trained me I never saw him so unsettled as he was that night."

"What does it mean?" Trowa asked.

Heero shook his head. "I do not know. I have never known. But when you consider that the Avatar died so violently, and that the Avatar Soul was split into five, is it possible something was left over to mark the place where it happened?"

"But what _something_?" Duo asked, a little hysterically. "Is it something I _need_? I don't want to lose my _something_ in a scary blue light!"

"Now you've done it," Trowa frowned at Heero. "You've scared a man already mentally unstable even without the cactus juice."

"He did ask for a scary story," Heero protested.

Trowa and Heero began trying to urge Duo to be calm, reminding him that all this had happened years ago, far away, and that he was safe, but to no avail. His fear and panic grew and grew until he was almost seeing the events Heero had described right in their little sand den.

"We're dead!" he bellowed, thrashing about. "We're _dead_!"

"Hold him down," Trowa ordered, dodging the senseless blows.

Heero caught up some sand and pinned Duo firmly, but gently.

"_We're dead we're dead we're dead_…" he moaned.

::_Enough_!::

All three froze at the ringing voice that sounded in the backs of their minds. Though, truly, it wasn't really a "voice" in the traditional sense. As the five Avatars had discovered, there was a place in their spirits where they were united, and through that place, they could speak to one another. Their words were rarely truly words as such – more often it was an eloquent mix of feelings and even images – but the impression was so clear all of them could understand one another without fail.

Trowa recovered first. ::_Quatre_?:: he sent.

::_Be calm_,:: came the familiar voice. With the command came a palpable sense of ease and serenity, and in it Heero and Duo and Trowa all could almost see Quatre, legs folded in meditation, Wufei at his side. ::_You're all right, Duo. You haven't lost anything_.::

Duo had relaxed completely under the concentrated the influence of the empath, but Heero and Trowa exchanged looks. Heero focused on that inner connection. ::_I apologize for disturbing you. It appears that the tale I told_-::

::_I know_,:: Quatre interrupted. ::_Don't worry about_ it.:: They could almost feel his smile. ::_I'll help Duo sleep for now, and by tomorrow the cactus juice should be gone from his system. Wufei and I will be on our way back to you in the morning and we'll reach you as soon as we can_.::

But there was an odd pause in the emotions he was sharing, and through their connection they could all feel it, though Duo was too weary to really understand. It was Wufei who sent, ::_What is it, Quatre_?::

::_I don't want to upset Duo_,:: came the answer, and as Duo gave a wobbly thumbs-up and a sleepy grin, Quatre surrendered. _::That story you were telling, Heero? We could hear it, too. But…there's more to it than what you know_.::

::_There is_?:: he asked.

::_Yes_,:: Quatre affirmed. ::_Though perhaps you won't want to hear it_.::

::_Not likely_,:: Wufei interjected sharply. ::_Tell it now_.::

::_Oh. Well_…:: They could all feel his hesitation before he seemed to gather himself. ::_Put simply, Duo's right. There was something that was left behind in that place, part of what connects us as the Avatar. And when Heero was drawn to it as a child, he set it free_.::

::_What aren't you saying, Quatre_?:: Heero demanded.

A feeling very like a sigh echoed through their connection. ::_It's really a story for another day_.::

"Quatre," Heero growled aloud so fiercely it translated into almost an empathic shout.

::_I'm not telling the whole story now_,:: Quatre sent decisively. ::_But I promise I'll tell you everything some other time. Those seven days, Heero? You weren't just asleep. You were trapped in the Spirit World_.::

::_Then how did I escape_?:: Heero wanted to know.

::_I rescued you_.::


	6. Ghosts of the Past 2

Still sort of fulfilling saiyuri_dahlia's request, after all! The last part of this tale will come next weekend.

Enjoy!

* * *

Oneshot 6 – Ghosts of the Past: Part 2

* * *

"All right, OwlCat. Spill!"

Quatre blinked widely innocent eyes at Duo. "Spill what?"

"You know what!" Duo waggled a finger at him. "That whole thing about Heero in the Spirit World! Now that I'm not all loopy-goopy on cactus juice, I want to hear it!"

Wufei frowned. "Loopy…goopy?"

Trowa immediately raised an eyebrow. "Are you quite sure you're over the effects of it?"

"That's not the soundest thing I've ever heard you say," Quatre added with thick concern. "Perhaps we should give you another day or two to rest."

"It's already been four days! You try to keep from telling that story or I'll…I'll…" Duo suddenly smiled wickedly, "I'll tell Dorothy that you said she might make a good wife."

Quatre's wide-eyed horror was not feigned.

"OW!" Duo rubbed his head at the sharp _thwack_ he'd received. "What'd you do that for, Heero?"

"Don't threaten Quatre with that," he admonished. "That's going too far."

"I agree," Wufei said. "Let us sic that woman on _you_ for a few days and see how you manage."

"All right, fine! You guys have no sense of humor!" Duo complained. "Only Triton understands me anyway."

The sky bison carrying them rumbled, which Duo took for agreement.

"But he has a point," Wufei said. "You did tell us you would explain."

"Yes, of course," Quatre nodded. "But…it will seem a strange story to you all."

"Stranger than being one Avatar in five separate people?" Trowa asked archly.

Quatre nodded. "Yes. Because while I knew at the time about my nature as part of the Avatar, I was still only a portion of the Avatar and not yet remotely well-trained for certain aspects of working with the Spirit World. So what I experienced is like nothing any previous Avatar had done."

"Tell us!" Duo asked eagerly.

Quatre made himself comfortable in his habitual spot on the left-hand side of Triton's broad saddle and closed his eyes as the words began to flow.

"We were ten years old at the time, and I had already begun pursuing the Order of the White Lotus in an attempt to lay the groundwork to find you all. I had already learned a great deal of control over my empathy, but now and again something would happen and it would overwhelm me without warning. For this reason, I was rarely left alone; often my sister Iria or my friend Sada had the keeping of me for my father was far too busy to look out for his only son.

"One dreary afternoon, I felt a strange ache in my chest, as though a string had been tied around my ribs without my noticing and now someone was tugging on it, causing my heart to jolt. It plagued me throughout the evening, and I was sent to bed early to rest. Iria had left with me a little bell to ring if I needed her in the night, and I remember it standing silent on my bedside table, as though mocking me. Because I knew she would come if I called, but somehow I also knew there was nothing she could do with whatever was happening.

"I tried to sleep, but every time I closed my eyes I would feel that tug again, sharper and sharper until I pulled open my sleeping robe to ensure I was not being stabbed by a thin needle or pin. But my skin remained unmarked even as the ache felt as though it should have drawn blood.

"Then, I suddenly felt a rush of cold, as though I had been dropped into a freezing lake. I remember gasping against the cold and wondering if it would drown me. I realized I had closed my eyes and I feared to open them, but the pain in my chest was growing worse with every passing moment.

"When I finally opened my eyes, the pain vanished. However, it was not my familiar bedroom that was before me anymore. I was standing on a vast, ruined plain.

"The land was blackened as if by a great fire. For as far as I could see in every direction, there was little but scorched ash and the rotting remains of trees. It smelled horrible and I could scarcely breathe. The ground was strangely sticky, and if I stood too long in one place, my feet would sink. Everything was unstable – the logs of fallen trees crumbled if touched, the ground gave way without warning to a morass of dark sludge.

"I knew I had been pulled into the Spirit World, but I didn't know why. I assumed something was terribly wrong, and that, as the Avatar, I needed to fix it. But I was younger even than Avatar Aang when he awoke from the iceberg, and without any powers at all. For a time, I was very afraid.

"And then I felt a new pulse of warmth in my chest. I didn't know it then, but it was a feeling I have come to associate with our connection to the Avatar Soul. It infused me with new courage. After all, there is no bending in the Spirit World. I had no less ability than any past Avatar to act, and I had as much reason. So I resolved to find out what was wrong.

"But it took me ages to figure out how to move around that barren, wrong landscape. I would take a few steps only to sink to my waist with the speed of an eelhound. Pushing down against the slimy ground only served to bury my hands. And any upwards motion I did manage was almost overwhelmed by the pull on me from below, sucking me down to where I knew I would drown.

"I don't know how many times I was almost completely sunken in that black mass of neither mud nor earth nor water. It reminded me of the infected pus that gathers around a dangerous wound. Again and again I would struggle to move forward. Again and again I would falter and be drawn down into that putrid mess. But with every step I managed, the warmth in my chest grew. I knew I could not give up. I was the Avatar – one of the Avatars. I could not let my other selves down by failing here.

"After an eternity battling the very lands, I found a tree trunk that did not disintegrate at my first touch and I fell upon it, exhausted. I was smeared head-to-toe with the slime, and the smell of charred flesh in the air seemed a thousand times worse. I felt so small and helpless. Even as the Avatar, how could I possibly help this wretched land if I could not even move? What spirits could I soothe if I couldn't find any in this empty, unending plain of muck? I wasn't ready to give up, but I felt very alone.

"Then I heard the first sound other than my own struggles – a tiny whimper, almost a whisper. It galvanized me and I got back up to begin struggling towards it. The going was no easier. It may even have been worse. But with every step I managed, the whimpering grew.

"Suddenly I lost my balance and tipped forward, sure I was about to drown if I could not pull my face from the morass again. But instead I found my hands and arms touching something solid and dry. With a great pull, I yanked the rest of my body from the slime and slid down a smooth, glassy surface.

"I had come upon a crater that seemed forged of obsidian which somehow kept the decaying muck above at bay. The basin of the crater was shallow enough that I could walk easily along the sloping sides. But it was the sight in its center that drew me at once.

"There was a thing there that I saw for many years afterwards in my nightmares. It was an altar or a pedestal, formed from the remains of many dead human bodies. But these remains, while dead, were still fresh. Blood oozed from wounds, entrails spilled from horribly rent torsos. And the heads…the faces…

"Every single face in that pile of destroyed humanity was frozen in a scream of terror, eyes forever wide open and lost in death.

"The whole thing glowed with a dark light, and as the light flicked and pulsed and throbbed, the bodies in the altar seemed to move and shiver. As I got closer, the very air began to heat, and the sticky, ashy substance stuck all over my body boiled against my skin. Even my tears and my tongue boiled when I screamed.

"But I could not stop because there was another child on the altar.

"I forced my feet to go on, all my will bent upon the still body on the top of that horrible thing. I knew the instant I was close enough to see through the dark light that I was looking at another part of the Avatar, another who was like me, part of me. He was thinner than me, but stronger – I could tell. And his dark hair was soaked with sweat or blood, I didn't know which. But even without seeing him open his eyes or knowing his name, I knew who he was.

"I knew I had found you, Heero. And I knew I had to save you.

"The bier – for that's what it truly was – had begun to pull the boy's form into it, wrapping a length of ruined muscle around an arm, a portion of what remained of a hand on an ankle, and one of the ribcages that seemed to have no front was ever so slowly crawling up to drape itself over the boy's body. I knew if he was pulled into the bodies he would die, and he would be trapped here in this horror with the others forever.

"I first moved to grab Heero's hand, as if I could waken him and pull him free. But as soon as I touched his skin the heat around me increased tenfold and drove me back. I might have been on fire. I couldn't tell. My hands blistered and the blood on them burned like oil.

"I began to scream at the bier, as though it could hear me. I asked why it was taking you, why it was hurting me, how we could help it. I begged it to let you go, to set you free. I even offered it myself in the stead of the boy already trapped. Nothing worked.

"Finally I realized if I could not touch the boy, I would have to touch the bodies.

"So I approached again, but this time instead of reaching for Heero, I pulled at the nearest thing to me – a shoulder, I think. And when I touched it, it was as though my empathy had been unleashed. The shoulder under my hand became, in my mind, a whole man. I saw his face, knew his name, felt all of his feelings for all of his life. He was trapped in this cycle of destruction and decay just as Heero was, and he was suffering, too. All his pain had become manifest in the heat around me, and it was his pain, along with that of all those who were trapped with him, that was encasing Heero.

"So I did the only thing I could do. I took his pain into myself with my empathy.

"The instant I did so, though it felt like being skewered with a spear, he disappeared. And not just his mind and his tortured soul – his body vanished from the pile. And the heat around me lessened just a little bit. I could tell, I could feel, that he was at last free.

"I don't know how long I worked. Absorbing all that pain seemed to take weeks, and often I had to rest after each, curled up on the hard obsidian and weeping or trembling as the fiery suffering ate away at me. But with every soul released, the land around me seemed to improve as well. The putrid smell began to fade, and the sky which had been so dark began to show signs of light.

"At last I was down to the only body left. It had been torn and burned almost beyond recognition, but I knew anyway that I was looking at Avatar Yuy. What was left of him was shuddering on the ground, one broken arm around Heero's throat and Heero's feet tangled in the gaping hole in his stomach. But unlike the others, Avatar Yuy's eyes moved. He was…aware.

"I knelt before him. 'I am you,' I said. 'I am part of the Avatar Soul.'

"His grip on Heero tightened. 'You cannot be. I am dead and the Avatar with me.'

"I shook my head. 'If that were true, why do you hold this boy so tightly? Can't you feel it? He's you, too.'

"Avatar Yuy seemed to notice what he was doing for the first time. 'I cannot feel the earth,' he said. 'But I sense it through this boy.'

"I nodded. 'Because he bears your earthbending. He is born of you. As am I.' I held out a hand. 'Let me show you.'

"He considered for so long I feared his little sanity had truly escaped him, but finally he nodded. I put a hand onto his forehead and released all my powers of empathy at once.

"Unlike with the others, as Avatar Yuy's life and feelings and soul flowed into me, it crackled and jolted very like being struck by lightning. Where the others had all seemed to pass through me as they reached release, Avatar Yuy seemed to fill up every crack of my awareness, every space inside my heart. I think I screamed. I tried to. But I did not pull away.

"Finally it was over, and Avatar Yuy's body before me rose up, unbroken and whole. He held Heero in his arms and cradled him tenderly. 'I understand now,' he said.

"I was still on my knees, trembling, until I felt a warm hand on my head that drove away all the pain. I looked up into Avatar Yuy's eyes and saw all colors for a moment, and all the past Avatars. I think I even saw all five faces of the Gundam Avatar, before there was only Yuy again.

"He pressed his fingers into my hair. 'You have been here too long,' he told me. 'You will die or go mad if you remain.'

"I pointed to the boy in the Avatar's arms. 'What about him?'

"Avatar Yuy answered, 'Though he has been here longer, his mind has not awakened. His time here will not harm him, nor will he remember it. But you must go or the dark madness of the spirits will come to possess you and will poison the Avatar Soul.'

"I hesitated. 'Will he be all right?' I asked.

"Avatar Yuy nodded. 'Yes. An old friend of mine is coming for him even now, and he will know how to call the boy back. I will watch over him until he comes.'

"I wanted to touch Heero again, but somehow I knew if I did, I might wake him. So I bowed to Avatar Yuy as best I could. 'Thank you.'

"He smiled at me. 'Thank _you_, young one. I see now that you spoke the truth. The Avatar still lives in you. And now my dreams will live in you as well. I am sorry for the pain you must carry, but your heart is strong and your pain will have no power over it. Now go, young Avatar. And when you need me, I shall be with you.'

"There was a great rushing and I felt myself surrounded in cold again. When I opened my eyes once more, I was back in my room blinking at Iria. Apparently I had been asleep for almost a week with no signs of awareness. I tried to tell Iria where I had been, but she told me they were fever dreams and to forget them. But I never could.

"From that day on, I knew I needed to find the others who were a part of the Avatar Soul so we could restore what had been broken and prevent anything like that from ever happening again."


	7. Ghosts of the Past 3

Time for the thrilling conclusion to my inadvertent 3-shot! Or, I dunno – maybe it isn't "thrilling" but at least I hope you've had fun.

On a slightly sadder note, next week will mark the end of the Tales from Gundam Island series for now. That doesn't mean I won't get a brilliant idea for another oneshot or even a full sequel someday, but I'm putting the series to rest after the last update next weekend. I've been writing like crazy this year while I've been posting Tears of Revelry and later the Tales, and it's past time some of that work got to the light of day. However, none of it is Gundam-related. But don't worry. I write in cycles. It might take me a year or two, but I'm sure one day or another the muse will be back to say I've got something more to do to our beloved boys.

In the meantime, thank you everyone for your support and your comments and your interest. I hope to see you all around again!

Enjoy!

* * *

Oneshot 7 – Ghosts of the Past: Part 3

* * *

Quatre finished his story and lapsed into silence. The other four Gundams could feel the memory of suffering bouncing around in the young empath's emotions, but he was doing his best to keep it from them. When he had said he had absorbed the suffering of the dead and dying, that had not been an exaggeration – he had literally taken their feelings into himself and kept them as though they were his own to enable the trapped souls to move on. And feelings so strong, even if not originally his own, had indeed burdened him and now seemed close to breaking through to the surface again if Quatre could not manage them. So they left him with his quiet for a time, looking anywhere out at the endless sand.

The sun had moved in the sky before Quatre took a deep breath and seemed to shove the last vestiges of his feelings down. He lifted his head to speak when instead he gasped.

"Turn left!" he ordered. Triton turned even before Trowa had reacted, and in moments the airbender became aware of what Quatre's own senses had told him.

"There's people down there," he pointed.

"Looks like we found the idiots," Duo commented. "They must have gathered together to try to survive after realizing how stupid it was to be here in the first place."

"There's no Library," Heero pointed out.

"That's just as well," Wufei snorted. "If we did not find it with so much searching, I believe it must still be gone. Let's leave it where it is and get out of this wasteland."

Triton landed on a hot dune and the Gundams scrambled off his back to the vague shelter erected in a dip in the sand. It seemed to be no more than the remains of a cloak propped up in sand. And beneath it, six men and women sought the shade.

"Bring water!" Trowa called, first to reach them. Duo paused to simply yank the water from one of the supply jars on Triton's back, expertly spinning it in the air while he joined the others in the race to the tent.

"They're alive," Heero said, and only those who knew him best could hear the surprise in his voice.

"There were…more of us before," coughed one of the youngest, a girl not older than the Avatars. "They drank the cactus juice and wandered off. …We didn't find them."

"We were so foolish!" lamented the elderly man who had led one of the search parties. "To think we could find what the spirits hid…"

"Easy," Quatre soothed, rubbing a hand on the man's back. "It's all right now. We're going to get you all home."

Wufei felt like rolling his eyes, but that would be rude and would reflect ill on the Gundams, so he kept the desire inside – though the others could feel it. He and Quatre began lifting those able to walk and helping them stumble to Triton. Trowa, Duo, and Heero focused on moving those who needed the air or the sand to bear their weight, Duo watching each carefully for injury. But other than extreme dehydration and sun exposure, the six survivors were all right.

The Gundams had met up at one of the few oasis spots in the desert not far away that morning, so they headed back in that direction. The afternoon was filled with looking after the desert survivors, slowly rehydrating them, and listening to their self-recriminations and vows to make it up to the families of those who had not survived. By the time they reached the oasis, night had fallen.

"We should get them to a healer soon," Duo said lowly as the six slept, exhausted, curled together in a heap on Triton's saddle. "They'll make it, but those sun-sores hurt and need to be washed out."

"Can't you do it with the water from the oasis?" Heero asked.

"Sure," Duo shrugged, "but they need medicine. And shade. And lots of other things. Plus, if I clean out the sores now, they'll just get all new sand in them when they start flying again and it'll hurt worse than it does now."

Trowa looked up at the stars. "The nearest healer is probably that way," he pointed south. "There's villages dotted all through those mountains at the end of the desert, and it's closer than trying to get somewhere more populated."

"There's absolutely _nothing_ there," Duo frowned. "Trust me. I used to live there."

"The Maganacs have a camp to the southwest," Quatre said. "Right on the edge of the desert, and since they know we're here they might even have moved closer in just in case. And we know there's a healer with them."

"What do you think?" Wufei asked Heero.

"The Maganacs are probably our best bet," Heero nodded at Quatre. "They are close and have a good healer, plus they have experience dealing with this sort of illness."

"And Triton can find them," Trowa pointed out.

"So can I," Quatre replied. "And if they've got any hawks out, they'll lead me in as well."

"The most important thing is getting these people the help they need quickly," Wufei said after a moment. "Their best chance lies with Quatre on Triton. We can come behind on the sled, to spare the creature at least some strain of carrying too many in such inhospitable conditinos. Once Quatre finds Rashid, he and Triton can come back for us. He'll be able to find us." He put a hand on his chest in demonstration.

So Quatre turned most of the supplies over to the other Gundams with the sand-sled and urged Triton back up into the air. "I'll be back as soon as I can!" he called.

"We'll be so close behind you, you won't even have time to look!" Duo yelled back.

Trowa had been quiet but now he looked up as the other three piled onto the sled and prepared to make use of the cooler night to travel. "Do you think Quatre did it on purpose?"

"What?" Duo asked.

"Arranged it so we wouldn't be able to talk about it."

"It was my idea to separate," Wufei pointed out.

"Besides," Heero said, "we _aren't_ separated. We could still talk about it."

Trowa shrugged. It was true, but it was also different.

In the end, it took the remaining four Gundams all their energy to get out of the Shi Wong Desert without killing one another, and even that was a near thing. The heat played havoc against their already sharp tempers, and the monotony of the landscape and the bending made all four irritable and frustrated. By the time Quatre and Triton found them a few days later, Wufei and Duo weren't speaking to one another and Heero was down to monosyllabic responses only. They could have let his empathy soothe them from afar, but even within their connection Quatre was still as distant as he had been since telling his story and no one wanted to burden him.

But eventually they were together in the camp of the Maganacs and there was no longer a desert to distract them. Triton had made quite clear that he was utterly done flying back and forth in the desert and would be sleeping for the foreseeable future, and the Maganacs, after greeting the Gundams, had given them space for their much-needed rest.

"So," Duo said, looking over the platter of food to see if there was any last starfruit and finding one small slice.

"So," Trowa echoed. Wufei merely sniffed.

Duo sighed gustily. "All right look! I'm sorry I called you a koi-eared mud-faced ratdog with the sense of a headless possum chicken. There! Happy now?"

Heero's face twitched. "You also told him his sword looked like the tongue of the biggest boot-licker in Ba Sing Se."

"Was that during or after the cactus juice?"

"After," Wufei grumbled. "Thankfully I was with Quatre in Omashu throughout your chemically-induced senselessness or you might have more apologies to make."

"Okay, well, sorry for that part too."

Wufei crossed his arms but let out a long breath. "And I apologize for my comment that you lacked honor."

"Friends again?" Duo asked. Wufei nodded and they shook hands on it. The cloud of distance between all five of them began to clear, revealing Heero's relief and Trowa's vast amusement over the whole thing.

Quatre was still oddly withdrawn, but now there was nothing left to hide it from them. He looked up ruefully as he felt their attention swing towards him. "You don't have to worry, you know."

Heero lifted an eyebrow.

"I never wanted to keep it from you," Quatre explained. "It's just…that pain is a part of me now. A part of us. I…never wanted you to have to feel it. I'll just need a little more time to box it all up and I'll be fine again."

"Our serenity is never worth your keeping suffering to yourself," Wufei said softly. "We are one, one soul, are we not? What each of us carries could destroy us, except that we balance the weight evenly."

"Besides," Heero said suddenly, "are you certain you must still carry it?"

"What?" Quatre's head came up.

"Clearly it was your responsibility to take those emotions that were binding the spirits of those trapped with Avatar Yuy out of the Spirit World to ensure they achieved peace, but is there any reason you must _continue_ to carry that pain now? Can't you let it go?"

"For once," Trowa put in, "the Air Nomads are right about something. Let your fears and pains go and the weight you drop from your spirit will allow you to rise up to your own true self."

Quatre looked around, blushing slightly. "I...guess I never thought of that. I've spent so long keeping it inside...I never really considered if it would do any harm to release it after a while."

"You're not supposed to think of _everything_!" Duo grinned, flinging an arm around him. "That's why we've got each other!"

"I…I think I can let it go," Quatre said after a moment. "But I want to do it properly. I want to go back there. In the real world. To where it happened."

He looked up expecting resistance, but instead the other four nodded.

Trowa voiced what they were all thinking. "We ought to go to see the place from which we were born."

"As soon as Triton is ready," Heero said decisively. "And then we will put all these ghosts to rest once and for all."

It took the better part of two weeks for the Gundams to finish spreading the word about the desert – which Duo helpfully distilled to the handy slogan "The Library's gone, the heat is really _on_, so keep clear or you'll be deader than a fried prawn" – plus getting Triton happy and rested enough to carry them halfway across the Earth Kingdom. But before long, they had landed in the forest just a few long strides from the crater that looked just as Heero had described it.

"I know I'm not the only one getting the creeps here," Duo said in an undertone.

The others nodded. They could all feel it – an odd shiver that began in their chests and wormed its way into the backs of their minds where their connection felt more alien than it ever had before. There was no little blue light like what Heero had described in the center, and yet there was _something_ there.

"Come on," Heero said firmly, leading the way down into the crater. His distaste for how the earth felt, still so cold and dead, bled into all of them. But that did not stop any of the Gundams from continuing to move forward until they stood in the center of the crater.

"It didn't start this way," Wufei said softly. The others looked at him. "Before Avatar Yuy died, this was a simple clearing, though that day saw it littered with the horror of the battle. Reports from the immediate aftermath suggest nothing strange occurred right away, either. No one knows what exactly happened or when, but when people finally came looking for the bodies, this is what they found."

"As if the earth itself was poisoned with the death of the Avatar," Heero commented.

"Not just the earth," Trowa added. "The air, too."

"It is a wound that won't heal until the Avatar is reborn as one," Quatre said softly. "But we can do much to alleviate it now."

Quatre moved to stand just next to the very center of the crater and put out his arms. Wordlessly, the other four formed a circle with that unseen wrongness in the center. They grasped hands and braced themselves for whatever might come next.

At first there was only stillness.

Then there was a shock like lightning and the very ground shook. The five Gundams resolutely held onto one another, never looking away nor shrinking back from the palpable animosity that began to seep into the atmosphere around them. But they could not help the thoughts chasing themselves between them so quickly none could quite tell whose was whose.

_Was that a hand on his back? _

_Was that a sword-point in his side?_

_Who was whispering in his ear?_

_Was the ground shifting under his feet?_

_Was the air choking him?_

_Was their blood freezing?_

They held on anyway.

"We are the Avatar!" Heero yelled.

"We are alive!" Duo insisted.

"We are at peace!" Trowa offered.

"We are whole!" Quatre shouted.

"And we will undo what was done!" Wufei finished.

Everything went totally quiet and still for a moment. Then there was a clear _snap_ in the air and the earth, enough that the benders flinched.

From the center of their circle, the very center of the crater, a ghostly form rose. It began as a wavery spirit, but as it gathered itself, its form resolved into the tall Avatar Yuy. He rose up above the ground until he could hover above the five, looking down at them.

"I believe you," he whispered to them. "And as long as you live, I shall not be broken."

"Be at peace, Avatar Yuy," Quatre whispered. "The world is safe."

"The Avatar will protect it," Heero affirmed.

"Promise," Duo winked.

Avatar Yuy gazed at them. "I am sorry for your pain. It was my failure that brought this life to you."

Wufei shook his head. "It is not failure. Your spirit was strong enough to survive in us. That is enough."

Trowa nodded wordlessly.

Avatar Yuy's spirit began to glow brightly with the light of the Avatar Soul. "Then I will join my brothers and sisters. And when you need me, I will be here to guide you always, my young inheritors."

His spirit burst into pure light, a beam of which lanced into each of the five Gundams. A sixth shaft of light shot straight into the ground.

The five held on until the quaking inside them stopped; then they let go and stumbled backwards. For a long time they stood in silence, each quietly regarding the change in their surroundings – and in themselves.

Finally Duo spoke. "Hey, Heero?"

"Hn?"

"Next time I ask for a scary story, make something up, okay?"

"Roger that."


	8. The Ember Island Players Present

Well, we have arrived. My beta pointed out recently that, other than 2 weeks late last December where I was catching up on some old TMNT stuff, I have been exclusively posting Gundam Wing fic every week or even twice a week since November 2012. It's been an amazing journey through the fandom and I've enjoyed it immensely. As stated last week, I'm going to let my Gundam Wing brain rest for a while and focus on other things. Believe it or not, I've been writing non-stop since last year, and I've got more than 400,000 words of other fic ready and waiting to be posted throughout the end of this year and the entirety of 2015 (and I anticipate adding another 80,000 soon). I'll be bouncing around, spending a lot of time on a TMNT project that's very close to my heart, a few random oneshots, and then a year-long foray for 2015 into the epic and legendary fandom of The Sentinel.

But for now, I leave you with maybe one of my favorite oneshots I've ever written. I knew this oneshot was going to happen from the time I wrote the first couple of thousand words on Tears of Revelry. And I am really, really happy with how it came out.

(Reminder that this is my version of the origin of the Avatar, not what is told in Korra. Also, props to anybody who spots my numerous little tricks of names in the play – I had some fun with them. Additionally, I borrowed a particular framing device from the first play I ever worked on as assistant stage manager, and a metaphysical cookie to you if you can name it!)

This is dedicated to all of you who have come to love the TOR universe right beside me. You are few, but mighty, and even though I am the worst person ever at responding to notes and reviews and messages, I have read everything you've sent me and it has held me up and driven me to always improve. And remember – if you have a brilliant idea for a oneshot or a sequel, let me know!

I hope you stick around with me as I move to new projects, and when the time comes that Gundam Wing calls my name sometime in the future, I hope to see you around the fire once again for a new tale of adventure and friendship. Thank you, all of you, for your support and encouragement and interest and kindness.

Enjoy!

* * *

Oneshot 8 – The Ember Island Players Present "The First Avatar"

* * *

"I'm not sure this is such a good idea," Quatre said with a worried expression.

"Come on, OwlCat! It'll be great!" Duo urged, practically pulling his friend along.

"I agree with Quatre," Wufei frowned. "We could at least wait for another night."

"But the theater manager gave us a special box," Trowa said. "And those are not inexpensive. If the troupe gets a better draw on opening night because of our presence, it would help them a lot. It's our duty."

"Being the Avatar does not imply we are personally responsible for ensuring the economic or cultural success of an acting group!" Heero said dourly.

"Maybe not," Duo shrugged, "but the Ember Island Players are good friends with Trowa's circus family, and we _do_ take care of our families."

At Quatre's sigh, Duo did a little victory dance. It was a low blow for sure given that Quatre and Trowa were the only two of the Avatars to have any they at all considered family alive, but when it came to winning arguments against the Gundam tactician, Duo would use any advantage he could get. Besides, he couldn't wait to see the show!

They passed under a colorful sign that spanned the path to the playhouse. It read:

_The Ember Island Players Present – The First Avatar_

In smaller writing at the bottom of the sign it stated, "An interpretation based on the true story as told by Avatar Gundam Quatre Raberba."

"You've been holding out on us," Trowa said slyly. Quatre's face was very red as he glanced quickly away from the sign.

"When exactly did you have time to research the story of the first Avatar?" Heero wanted to know.

Quatre coughed awkwardly. "Well, I didn't, exactly…um."

"You already _know_ the true story of the Avatar," Wufei said with keen insight. At Quatre's nod, he tipped his head questioningly. "Why have you never told it to us?"

"It was supposed to be a surprise," Quatre sighed, defeated. "I wanted to present you all with a copy of it for our birthday. But when I was at the calligrapher to have it done professionally, the script-writer for the Players was in picking up their spring show copies and he saw it and…"

Duo laughed and ruffled the golden hair cheerfully. He moved around the main entrance and back along the building's perimeter – the Gundams had been invited to arrive early and enter in secret to avoid the crowds. Apparently in the week between the invitation and this opening night, Duo had make himself familiar with the whole building and everybody inside it; he unerringly led the way to the theater's side-door that was usually standing open, breezed past the woman standing guard, and waved cheerfully to the various actors and stagehands and musicians racing around frantically.

"Don't worry about the surprise," Trowa whispered to Quatre as they passed the wide prop table and eyed the various items to be used in the show. "If this is anything like their other interpretations, it won't be even remotely similar to the story you wrote for us."

"Oh, thanks ever so," Quatre rolled his eyes. "I feel _much_ better now."

The Gundam Avatars made their way to the private viewing box near the stage, some taking their seats with trepidation or at least impatient acceptance, Duo with wanton joy. The stage manager found them there shortly thereafter, and he chatted eagerly with Duo about the waterbender's ideas to enhance certain special effects for the performance. The more Duo's glee grew, the more the others began to wonder if this really was such a good idea.

Then people began entering and taking their own seats. The first to catch sight of the renowned Avatars set up a cry that echoed through the house with every new member of the audience to find such unexpected company present. Included in that audience were some old friends as well – Sally, Noin, Hilde, Howard, Sada, and Rashid and a few Maganacs had all made a point to be present for what was an undoubtedly intriguing prospect.

But Quatre's attention was not on the people coming down the aisles and finding their seats. Instead, it was on an elderly woman who sat calmly on the edge of the stage. Her long, white hair was braided simply down her back, the braid seeming to vanish in the folds of her pale over-cloak. She looked frail in a way that made him want to go down and sit with her, or maybe gently support her to wherever her seat was meant to be.

The house lights were extinguished and there was only darkness. Then a voice began to speak.

"In the time before the Avatar, there was no firebending, no airbending, no waterbending, and no earthbending. And there were no nations. There were only the people trying to survive. This taught them to have very strong spirits."

A single light illuminated the old woman standing in the center of the stage in front of the curtain.

"The Avatar was born from that strength, as were all benders as we know them today."

The curtain began to rise, the Narrator moving to one side and standing, tall and proud, at the very edge of the stage as if she were not quite a part of the show, and yet not quite a part of the audience either.

The set showed a humble village in a nondescript part of the world – somewhere vaguely lush with mountains in the background. People were going about their daily tasks, greeting one another soundlessly as they mimed simple chores. Notably, the people wore primarily greys and browns and other neutral colors, not the colors that tended to dominate the nations.

"Good morning Daya!" called a young woman with long plaited brown hair as she entered the scene.

"Good morning Ketto," replied another young woman, this one with shorter black hair. "Have you seen Sero yet today?"

"He is calling for a meeting of the village," entered a third young woman. She was lanky and almost boyish.

"Do you know what is going on, Tiata?" Daya asked.

"No, but we must find the others or we will be late," Tiata said, and the three began to pantomime seeking through the scene.

"Aidu! La Jin! Where are you?" Ketto shouted with overly cheery interest.

"We are here," replied a shorter young woman with her black hair swept away from her face in an elaborate style. "La Jin and I were just on our way. Stop yelling."

"Aidu, you don't need to be so mean," La Jin said gently. She was small and very pale with nearly white hair. They approached and the five girls began to speak dramatically about their lives in this quaint village where all people were alike – _mostly_.

::_Does she remind you of somebody?_:: Duo's internal communication was whispered into the minds of the other Gundams. It was not entirely composed of words – rather, it was the overall sense and impression of Duo's thoughts projected through their connected spirit to the others.

::_They all do_,:: Heero commented back. ::_Is that intentional?_::

::_It's not anywhere in the story I told_,:: Quatre said with a hint of annoyance, ::_but it makes sense. They want to model these girls after us to make it easier for their audience to make the connection_.::

::_Well, they have failed so far_,:: Wufei was derisive. ::_That girl is not nearly irritating enough to resemble Duo_.::

::_You will miss something,_:: Trowa admonished. But through their link, they could feel his amusement was much brighter than any annoyance.

Now the whole village had gathered around a hut that had been brought into the center of the stage, and from it a tall man emerged. He bore a striking resemblance to Earth King Noventa, actually. He spread his arms broadly.

"My people! I, Chief and leader Sero, have called you here today to announce that our village has been blessed. As you all know, there are some children born who can touch the world and bring changes like those a spirit might cause. They are the Spirit-Touched, beloved of the world. To have them in a village is to ensure good luck. Today, it is my honor to tell you I have foreseen that we have five such Spirit-Touched children!"

Everyone reacted with intense shock and awe. Sero gestured to the five girls at one side.

"Daya, Ketto, Tiata, La Jin, and Aidu are all Spirit-Touched, and by them may we all be greatly blessed!"

::_Are you sure this is a story about the first Avatar and not about us?_:: Heero wanted to know.

::_I'm sure,_:: Quatre answered. ::_The five girls weren't all born on the same day like we were. They were just close in age. They'd grown up together._::

The background shifted to night as lights lowered and most of the villagers disappeared, leaving the five girls alone on stage under a scene of stars against the mountains.

"To be Spirit-Touched is not dishonorable," Aidu said, "but it is not useful, either. I would rather we all be exceptionally strong or gifted in wisdom."

"Speak for yourself," Ketto grinned brightly, earning laughter from the audience.

"There must be some use for being Spirit-Touched," Daya said, crossing her arms. "It cannot be for nothing!"

"Perhaps we will learn more as we grow older," La Jin suggested quietly.

"Look!" Tiata pointed.

The backdrop began to glow oddly. Suddenly a figure in black, meant to be invisible to the audience, appeared, firebending an explosion against the mountain range.

"The Vaatu mountain is burning!" Daya cried with horror.

"We must warn the village!" Ketto yelled. "Everyone will die!"

The five girls began to race around, frightened villagers appearing and disappearing between the huts and behind the curtains. A broad, almost glowing length of material began to spill from near the burning "mountain" as lava. When it touched the first hut, there was a tremendous explosion – a real one.

::_I assume that was your idea,_:: Trowa asked Duo archly.

::_Yep! Originally it was just a bunch of ribbons or something. I told them that since they had a firebender anyway they could just put something flammable in a jar and the firebender could light it and control the blast._::

::_I'm so pleased you to decided to make this performance more...realistic,_:: Heero's inner opinion carried a small sardonic twist.

The smoke from the explosion cleared and showed that the village was in a terrible ruin. Most of the villagers were clinging to one another sobbing loudly. In the center, the five girls stood shoulder-to-shoulder.

"We should have done something," Daya said shortly.

"What could we do?" Ketto asked. "We're Spirit-Touched. We can't change anything that happens in this world. We just keep the spirits happy."

"Maybe we should go on a journey to find out if that's the only use of our powers," Tiata suggested.

"I agree," La Jin said.

"Okay," Aidu nodded sharply and led the way off stage.

The sobbing and wailing of the suffering villagers quieted instantly – though they continued to act as though they were fully grieving – while the Narrator, present through all this but motionless on one side, returned to the center of the stage.

"The five girls journeyed for many months in the hope that they might find one wise enough to teach them to use their strong spirits and gifts to save their people."

::_That makes no sense,_:: Wufei was irritated. ::_If they'd been gone for months, there would be nobody and nothing left to save!_::

::_You really expected a logical story after the hut exploded?_:: Trowa replied archly.

Wufei's response wasn't even remotely verbal, but it felt like a strong huff.

The scene shifted rapidly while the girls walked in place, simulating a long journey. At last, the entire background was filled with an enormous brown face.

"Who are you to seek me out?" rumbled a deep, low voice accompanied by a sound like thunder.

"We are Spirit-Touched and we have come to learn if there is something we may be able to do to help our people," Daya said strongly.

"And what help do you think I may offer you?" the voice inquired.

"You're big," La Jin said suddenly. "You must know a lot about spirits. Can't you help us?"

"Very well," the giant face agreed. "I am Raava, an ancient lionturtle."

::_Wait. No. This is unacceptable. 'You're big' is not an appropriate argument. Quatre, the one that's supposed to be you is stupid!_:: Heero raged.

::_Yeah, and you're stomping around like you're squishing fire ants with every step!_:: Duo returned cheerfully. ::_Trowa's had, what, two lines? And Wufei's going to hurt something with that stick up her, um, shirt. The only good one is me!_::

::_He's kind of right,_:: Trowa admitted.

::_I wonder if this is how Avatar Aang felt watching that awful short-run show about him that was really Fire Nation propaganda,_:: Quatre winced. ::_Remind me to ask him if we ever meet him in meditation._::

On stage, the giant face was giving the five girls a series of completely nonsensical instructions, almost as if he were leading them through the steps of a truly silly dance. Daya crashed into Aidu and they began to fight until La Jin separated them. Ketto began ignoring the instructions and bouncing around willfully until Raava roared so loud the whole theater shook. Tiata seemed to do a lot of leaning around not participating.

"This is stupid!" Aidu yelled. "I'd rather fight you than listen to you anymore!" She took a stance to punch Raava, but when her arm lashed forward, a bright streamer of red appeared.

"How did you do that?" Ketto was awed.

"Your energies have fused with one of the four elements," Raava said. "Under my careful instruction, you will be able to manipulate flame with your will alone."

"Can we all do that?" Daya asked tensely.

"You must find it in yourself," Raava said smugly.

While Aidu pranced around the stage gleefully throwing red streamers, the other four girls adopted serious thinking poses. A few moments later, Daya produced a rock to throw, which Tiata blocked with a streamer of white-blue. Ketto began to cry loudly, until as she covered her face with her hands a long bolt of blue material unraveled, demonstrating her command over water.

"You have all surpassed the gift of the Spirit-Touched," Raava proclaimed. "You are now benders. You must go forth and teach firebending, airbending, earthbending, and waterbending to your people."

"What about me?" La Jin asked in a small, scared tone.

"You are still a Spirit-Touched soul, but you alone will be able to change other Spirit-Touched people to benders as I have done for your friends. Go forth and unleash the power within all those who seek it!"

"Let's go home!" Aidu said, pointing out into the audience. "We have a village to save!"

The curtain fell to the applause at the end of the first act.

"Quatre, that's not really how it happened, is it?" Duo asked at once. "The first waterbender wasn't last and she didn't find it by _crying_, did she?"

Quatre was torn between laughing and groaning. He buried his head in his hands. "No, that was...silly."

"So what really happened?" Trowa asked earnestly.

"First of all, they've simplified this down a lot. The girls were all from the same village, and there was a volcano or something, but there's a whole other part to the story that has to do with how human habitation was getting too crowded overall and there were a lot of battles between warring city-states and other political entities. Also, the quest took many generations. The girls set out together, but they all married and had children to whom they passed the quest down the line. It just happened that their descendents all happened to have girl children at the same time, so they revived the names of their family matriarchs out of respect, and it was _those_ girls who discovered bending."

"I'm hearing a lot of blah-blah-blah," Duo complained impishly. "Tell us about the bending!"

"Well," Quatre smiled, "they really did find a lionturtle. Maybe the same one I knew as a child – I don't know for sure. He never told me his name, so I think they might have made that part up."

"Raava is the name of the script-writer's mom, and Vaatu is his wife's mother," Trowa put in. When they all looked at him in surprise, he shrugged. "Remember, I actually know this troupe. Not well, but well enough. The stories about Vaatu's temper are legendary even at the circus."

"Anyway," Quatre continued, "they learned from the lionturtle that energybending could be adjusted the way Duo adjusts his chi, but permanently, giving a person control over a single element."

"Yeah, but who was first?" Duo almost whined. Heero grabbed his braid and tugged, hiding a smile.

"Technically, La Jin, because she was their best energybender." Quatre grinned. "She and Tiata together discovered airbending. Then Ketto became a waterbender. After that, it was Daya who learned earthbending before Aidu finally created firebending." He coughed awkwardly.

"If you say a single word..." Wufei threatened.

"Don't have to!" Duo's grin was wide and bright.

"Do not take it out on him that your own legacy was the slowest," Heero said slyly.

"Don't start an insult you cannot follow up with a duel!" Wufei got red in the face.

The three of them began something of a verbal and sometimes physical altercation while Trowa slipped around to Quatre's side. "Why did they do it the other way around in the play?"

"They're still Fire Nation," Quatre shrugged. "I don't think Wufei is the only one with pride issues."

"I heard that!" Wufei growled.

They were all saved by the flickering lights indicating that the second act was about to start. The five Avatar Gundams got back into their seats (Heero having to right his after Duo and Wufei had sent it tipping backwards in their scuffle) and turned towards the stage. Once more, the Narrator appeared after the audience quieted.

"Thus the first benders and their Spirit-Touched sister returned to their people to spread their knowledge and their gifts."

The curtain rose over the village, looking just as it had in the first act before the volcano. The people were still going about their regular tasks in mimed quiet. The five girls entered the scene.

"We have returned," Daya stated simply.

When no one looked up immediately, Aidu gave a loud cry and let loose a thick bolt of red cloth, sending it sailing all the way across the stage. Everyone in the village stopped and looked up in awe.

"We have gained the powers of firebending, airbending, waterbending, and earthbending," La Jin said. "We return to protect you and to guide you in the ways of bending."

"How do we become benders?" bellowed a small child who seemed unable to focus on being in the scene and instead stood with his toes on the very edge of the stage, grinning out at the audience.

"I must unleash the power within you," La Jin answered.

She began twirling around the stage, now and again pausing to tap a person on the head. As soon as she made contact, the person would begin leaping about in something resembling a bending form, throwing ribbons or rocks.

::_There's no way it was that easy,_:: Duo complained.

::_No, it took many days of meditation and energybending for each person, and that was only after a complicated process of assessment to figure out if a person even had the inborn ability to bend at all and, if so, which element,_:: Quatre answered.

::_Didn't they say in Act 1 that only energybenders could become elemental benders?_:: Heero asked.

Wufei snorted. ::_Then a great deal more people are now Spirit-Touched than they were previously._::

::_I told you this happened over many generations,_:: Quatre sighed. ::_Also, it wasn't random. It was energybenders, yes, but also any of their children or parents, even if they hadn't shown signs of energybending previously. If there was an energybender anywhere in the family line, there was a chance that an elemental bending would result._::

::_Makes sense,_:: Trowa put in. ::_Bending is hereditary, after all._::

Back on stage, the sheer number of people dancing around flinging their elemental representations every which way became chaotic and frenetic. The five girls began yelling, at first in mock concern, then with greater insistence. From the audience, it legitimately looked like the entire cast had forgotten to stop the playful frolicking and return to acting. Either that or it was the finest and most genuine bit of acting yet on display.

At last Daya got visibly fed up and launched one of her little boulders toward something off-stage that made a loud crashing sound, freezing everyone in surprise. The audience giggled.

"There are too many of you now," Sero appeared from one side. "You are too eager with your powers and too incautious. I, Sero, Chief and leader, decree that you must part according to the element with which you have been gifted so you might learn better control." He marched away regally.

"We must take our people and teach them the arts of bending," Aidu said as the five girls gathered near the edge of the stage.

"But where will we go?" Tiata asked.

"Somewhere with lots of room to bend!" Ketto cheered.

"I think," La Jin spoke up then, her gentle voice adapting some greater strength, "there is more to learn about your elements than you realize. All of you have control, but not skill." She pointed outward. "Look around. Tiata, you do not fly like the birds. Ketto, you do not swim like the fish. There is much the world can teach you about your elements if you only find those who already know it so well."

Sero strode out to join them. "You speak wisely, my child. Each element has a companion who already bends it skillfully. I, Chief and leader of our people, command you to take those in your own elements out into the world to find these companions and study them."

::_How could he possibly know that?_:: Wufei wanted to know.

::_He didn't,_:: Quatre shook his head. ::_I don't even remember a person like that in my version. But the lionturtle did explain to the girls about the original elemental benders in the world._::

::_Anybody get the feeling that Sero wrote his own part in this story?_:: Heero asked.

Trowa gulped to keep a laugh from breaking out. ::_You're probably right, you know._::

::_I know._::

"Then let us set out!" Daya commanded. "All earthbenders, follow me! We shall go to the east!"

"Waterbenders, come with me," Ketto danced over to a group all shaking a big blue blanket together. "Let's go north!"

"Airbenders," Tiata called, "come with me. We will begin by going south, but I believe we will wander also."

::_Way to be decisive,_:: Duo elbowed Trowa.

"Firebenders! Our destiny lies in the west!" Aidu posed dramatically. Wufei actually winced.

The scene shifted with Aidu's group in the center. The background moved to show them in more definitively Fire Nation lands while the village huts were pulled away as the other groups left the stage. After a moment, a beautiful red dragon that probably took five people to operate between the complicated face and the undulating body appeared.

"Why have you come to my island?" the dragon asked.

"Oh great dragon!" Aidu bowed elaborately. "You are the true teacher of firebending! Please teach us your ways that we might be great and powerful firebenders too!"

The dragon danced around the group a bit and soon they began to move with it. Before long, the entire stage was filled with an imitation of the "Dancing Dragon" firebending form. And it was fairly accurate, if not well portrayed with ribbons instead of actual flame.

"Yes," the dragon said. "I will teach you. Come with me."

They left the stage in the dragon's wake, the scene behind them shifting to a mountaintop. Tiata appeared with another group of villagers.

::_No, those are the same people!_:: Heero argued. ::_They were just firebenders!:_:

::_Limited cast,_:: Trowa shrugged.

"Let us wait here in the wind for enlightenment," Triata said with extremely profound and deep meaning.

They stood around for a moment before a creature appeared. It was white and fuzzy.

::_No!_:: That was Trowa and he was as indignant as any had seen him. ::_No, you can't just put a white sheet over the dragon and make it a sky bison! Look! They didn't even adjust the people inside! No sky bison has ten feet!_::

Duo couldn't help it – he laughed aloud, earning a few angry looks sent in the direction of the Avatar box.

"I am a sky bison," it intoned. "I will teach you to soar if you can let go of the ground."

"Sounds good," Tiata shrugged. She and her group began to copy the bison's motions, resolving into a basic airbending series. However, from the groan that escaped Trowa, it wasn't nearly as skillful.

::_I'm going to find their choreographer and set him straight before anyone else sees this!_:: he threatened.

The troupe flitted off to the side leaving Ketto to appear with, again, the same group of villagers – at least this time they had thrown heavy coats over their costumes, but within moments every one of them was bright red in the face from the heat. The scene behind them reflected an icy landscape.

"Well, we're about as far north as you can go before you start going south!" Ketto bounced. "I guess we should learn something about waterbending, huh? I wonder. Does anything live up here? I just wanted to see the north pole – I guess I forgot about finding a waterbending teacher!"

Duo's head crashed into his hands. ::_Cattie, tell me that isn't – _::

::_It's not,_:: Quatre was quick to soothe him. ::_I have no explanation for this part._::

"Oh, hey! Look! The moon! It, you know, kinda pushes the waves. We should do that," Ketto declared. She began something that was probably supposed to be a waterbending form, but it looked more like a stationary plowing motion. The others copied her for a while. Then they seemed to get tired of being in the coats, because they didn't really have a good reason to exit – they just left.

::_You were all right,_:: Duo sent miserably. ::_Seeing this show was a terrible idea._::

The scene changed a little hurriedly to a green forest. Moments later, Daya appeared with the group, some still taking their coats off and throwing them off-stage at the last possible moment.

"We must find a teacher of earthbending," Daya stated. She stood still, then walked in a circle, then stood still again. "I don't see one."

"That's your problem right there!" came a cheerful voice.

Heero actually groaned and started to rise to leave, but Trowa caught his arm and pushed him back into his chair.

Onto the stage waddled a man in a suit that was at least as big around as he was tall. It was a costume meant to resemble a badger-mole, but only if that badger-mole was intentionally made to look as dopey as possible. Its too-big teeth went every which way, its claws had been mysteriously colored in a garish orange color, and the eyes of the costume, perched high above the human actor's head clearly peeking out the mouth, seemed to have been made very large and cross-eyed.

"You can't really learn earthbending with your eyes. You must feel it in your body!" the badger-mole enjoined them brightly with a full laugh.

"Okay," Daya said. She began imitating the laugh, her tiny stomach bouncing somewhat less convincingly. The other villagers tried the laugh, too. Somehow this led to them moving into a horse stance and juggling false rocks.

"Now you're getting it!" the badger-mole cheered.

::_Is it over yet?_:: Heero asked almost pleadingly.

::_Yes,_:: Wufei told him with some sympathy. ::_They're leaving._::

The scene didn't change, but La Jin walked out alone. She looked forlornly out into the audience. "All my friends are gone. I suppose I must remain behind to safeguard the rest of our people. I hope my friends come back soon!"

The curtain fell, ending the second act.

"Well, uh," Quatre cleared his throat. "That was...um."

"Inane?" Wufei offered.

"Embarrassing," Heero said in a low growl.

"Totally unfair!" Duo declared.

"And highly inaccurate," Trowa finished.

"Well," Quatre said slowly, "in part, yes."

"Which part did they get _right_?" Heero wanted to know.

"The girls did go and find the original benders, and they did leave La Jin alone with the non-benders to take care of their homeland. And they did learn true bending from the original source that way."

"What did they leave out?" Wufei wanted to know.

"Well, there was a whole argument about which people should get the right to try to learn bending at all," Quatre answered. "Some wanted it reserved for the wealthy, or those in power. Some thought only men should learn bending. There were years of arguments. Every year, La Jin would create new benders and send them to join the others, and every year she had to fight to ensure that anyone who came to her with the potential to bend was given both the energy-work to make it happen and the opportunity to study their new-found abilities. It was something of a revolutionary idea that women or the poor or the despised in society could all be equal in this one pursuit."

"Is that all La Jin did? Make more benders?" Trowa wanted to know.

"No," Quatre shook his head. "She developed the rest of her natural Spirit-Touched abilities, namely dealing with the Spirit World. That was what Spirit-Touched were for originally, after all. But she also learned during the years she was alone that most energybenders would disrupt the Spirit World unintentionally with no ability to fix it. That was part of why she was so ardent about turning every single potential energybender into an elemental bender – it was safer for everyone to leave upsetting the spirits to her."

"Is that why there aren't any energybenders around now but you, Cat?" Duo asked.

"That's part of it," Quatre acknowledged. "But some of it is to do with how bending gets passed down. You know it's uneven, right?"

"Yes," Heero nodded. "If an earthbender or a firebender has two children, likely one will be a bender, but not both. If a waterbender has two children, often neither will be a waterbender, but a grandchild will inherit the ability. It's the airbenders who virtually always breed true."

"Right," Quatre nodded. "Well, energybending is the opposite of airbending. I don't think it was rare before, but it is now – probably because our ancestors were largely made elemental benders instead, so these days energybending will only show up every few generations in the same family if at all."

"Then how did those girls come to exist at the same time?" Wufei asked. "Statistically, it should have been very unlikely."

"I don't know," Quatre shrugged. "The closest I can tell you is that it worked out for them because it _needed_ to. Because without them, we wouldn't have an Avatar."

As he said that, the lights flickered and they prepared for the final act.

The Narrator appeared in the center of the stage, again only illuminated by a single candle in the darkness.

"Many years passed. The four benders returned to their native land every few years to reconnect with one another and share what they had learned. But with each decade, their peoples began to grow farther and farther apart from the village that had once been their home. Those who possessed the gift of bending began to take on the aspects of the lessons they had learned over time."

The curtain rose on the small village, La Jin standing alone to one side. She looked much the same, but her hair had been braided more elaborately and had begun to whiten with age. She also wore robes that were white and silver in color and denoted age and authority.

The other four girls arrived on the scene. Each now wore the colors and basic styles of the nations their bending would come to represent, and they, too, were shown to have aged. They greeted one another solemnly.

"It has been ten years since our last visit," Daya stated as she stretched a hand to La Jin in friendship.

"And fifty since first we left our village," Ketto said with less bounce than previously.

"It is not our village anymore," Tiata said softly. "We belong now to our own villages and to our studies."

"There is no reason we cannot claim both," Aidu tossed her head. "My people have learned from the pride of the dragons that our way of life is the superior one. We have come to take the rest of our people home."

"It is my people who have come to take the village back with them," Daya shook her head. "We live in peace with the land and can take care of them. Already we are building a vast city where they can live."

"We need the people," Ketto argued. "Our way of life at the north pole is difficult and we need more hands to ensure we survive."

"All of you have lost your way," Tiata admonished. "The truest purpose of our path is to study, to let these worldly concerns fade away and seek enlightenment. We come to offer such wisdom to our village."

"You have forgotten everything!" La Jin said with passion. "We are one people, not four! You who can bend the elements do not have the right to decide for others how to live!"

"It is too late for that," Daya said. "Our people are already here."

Suddenly the stage was swarmed with villagers, four groups who were in about even numbers between them, wearing the four cardinal colors of the nations. At very little provocation, they began to fight amongst themselves, creating a chaotic melee of staged bending.

::_Did that really happen, Quatre?_:: Heero wanted to know.

::_Yes,_:: Quatre answered with sadness. ::_Yes, it did. For three years, the four bending peoples made war over the non-benders like a prized possession._::

The four girls watched the battle with growing horror. As the benders fought, the villagers appeared, pleading for peace. More than one villager was struck down in the violence that seemed to only get worse as the moments passed.

"This is wrong. We should not be fighting each other," Tiata said with deep sorrow as a small child ran in the path of an earthbender and was struck with a rock, bringing her to the ground.

"Where is Sero?" Daya asked. "Let him speak for his people."

But just then Sero appeared amidst the battle, staggering with a red cloth against his chest showing that he had been wounded. At the very edge of the stage, he died a slow, painful, _noisy_ death.

"Now we have no leader!" La Jin said angrily. "How will we ever achieve peace now?"

"Let's stop the fighting," Ketto agreed. "The villagers can choose someone to decide what happens next."

The four girls marched into the middle of the fight, their own bending much grander and their streamers of simulated elements much bigger. After a few energetic moments, the battle stopped. The four bending groups separated and huddled together and the villagers gathered in the center of the stage.

"We fight over you because we all wish you to join us on the paths we have set for ourselves," Aidu said to them. "Because Sero has died, you must choose a new leader who will evaluate the four of us and determine which of us will bring you home."

Simultaneously, every single villager pointed to La Jin. She stared at them in unbelieving surprise.

"Me?" she asked.

They all nodded.

"So what is your decision?" Daya asked. "You know us, you know our bending and our people. Where should the village go?"

La Jin planted her feet and faced her four friends. "Nowhere! The villagers are their own peoples. They should be free to decide where to live and which path to walk. We are all one people, so it doesn't matter who they follow because we will always be together."

The villagers began to cheer. Then they broke up and began to join the small knots of benders, a few remaining in place and starting to set to rights everything that had been knocked over or upturned in the fight.

::_That's actually what happened, not in so many words, but pretty close,_:: Quatre sent. ::_The non-bending peoples elected La Jin to guide them, and she, in turn, gave them the choice to follow any of the bending nations or stay in their hereditary lands as they wished._::

As all the people began to exit, many of them taking props with them to clear the stage, the Narrator moved to her place in the center.

"The peace lasted for another ten years and Daya, Ketto, Tiata, and Aidu stepped down from their positions to allow others to lead. But these others had not learned the lessons of the past and instead sought to make war upon those who were their brothers and sisters."

The stage went completely dark. Then five lanterns were lit, each held by one of the five girls as they moved furtively across the empty stage.

"Are we all here?" Aidu called in a loud whisper.

"I'm here," Ketto whispered.

"Me too," La Jin said.

"And I," Tiata answered.

"And we are alone," Daya finished.

The lights came up somewhat. To the shock of the audience, the backdrop no longer showed the peaceful woodland scene that had been the norm for most of the performance. Instead, it was a vast landscape of a battlefield, with ruined homes and lands artfully displayed in detailed, bright swaths.

"We have failed," Aidu said miserably. "Our peoples are making war."

"We aren't one people anymore," Tiata said, shaking her head. "We have become too different."

"Even worse, _some_ of us aren't as popular as others," Ketto's anger was clear, "and so we have no hope that we can protect ourselves for long."

"And not one of us is strong enough to force our own people to listen anymore," Daya admitted coldly. "We taught our benders all we know. We are not powerful enough to keep balance now."

"What about you, La Jin?" Tiata asked.

"My people still follow me," she said, "but yours won't because I'm not a bender. I would keep the balance if I could, but I have no power at all."

There was a sudden outburst of shouting and the scene was rushed by benders throwing their elements at one another and fighting viciously. A full battle erupted, the girls attempting to defend themselves and La Jin, but ultimately they were overwhelmed. They vanished beneath a pile of screaming warriors who hooted with victory when they finally dispersed. The five girls were all crouched on the stage, crawling to its edge while they trailed long streamers of bright blood.

"It's over," Daya said. "Now we will die and our people will die with us."

"We never should have separated. It was easier to keep the balance when we all lived together." Ketto coughed wetly.

"We have failed to understand the true nature of bending," Tiata sprawled at the edge of the stage, one arm hanging off limply.

"And now we die without honor as the world burns," Aidu flopped dramatically.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" La Jin demanded. She stood up, hobbling badly, and flung her arms out. "Perhaps the five of us alone are not strong enough to endure, but there must be a way of summoning an even greater power that could protect the world and its people against the foolishness and ambition of the few who bring ruin to us all!"

A white light shone down from above, illuminating La Jin and making her seem to sparkle.

"I will not live to see it," Tiata said, standing up and another light shining on her, "but I would give my bending to you if you think you can save my people with it."

"My own flame is dying," Aidu lurched to her feet with a wild wobble as another light fell on her, "but I give what is left of it to you so you might stand equal to my people as well."

"I can heal your wounds, but not my own," Ketto stood slowly, a fourth white light directed at her, "so I give you my healing and anything else I can so you can carry on with my people."

"Take my power as well," Daya climbed to a standing position as a fifth white light appeared, "and use it so you never run out of strength."

La Jin stretched out her hands to link with the others and they formed a line across the front of the stage, the five white lights getting brighter and brighter. Her voice, when she spoke next, sounded quite different.

"If I take your powers into myself, I will bend not four elements, but five. And with these five, I will be able to maintain balance among all the peoples, benders and non-benders alike. But if I take them from you, you will disappear into the Spirit World. You can't die because your powers will be with me, but you won't be alive either. And when I die, I will join you and our spirits will merge just as our powers will merge. Can you really give your lives to the future this way?"

"Yes," Daya, Ketto, Tiata, and Aidu said. "We give our lives and our bending to you. Become the Avatar of all bending, all balance, all peace, and guard our world with our strength."

The white lights grew blinding, until no one could see the stage clearly anymore. When they slowly dimmed, the five girls had vanished. In their place stood the Narrator.

"I am the Avatar," she said. All the people – benders and villagers – began to slowly walk onto the stage, staring in open-faced awe. They merged together into a crowd, heedless of the fact that they were shoulder-to-shoulder with their previous enemies.

"It is my duty to serve and protect this world by maintaining balance between the elements, the peoples, the nations. I possess the power of all the elements and the spirits. I will now help restore that which you have tried to destroy."

She began to move her arms and another white light fell upon her, picking up accents in her hair and clothing that glowed against the darkness. She rose into the air, glowing, her arms out wide and her sleeves flowing like wings. The vivid background behind her was engulfed in white flames. When they receded, the scene was again tranquil and whole. The people stared at it, then looked back to the Avatar, who was returning to the stage. They knelt before her.

The Avatar looked out into the audience. "I am five made one. I am many spirits, many powers. But I am only one desire, and that is peace. I will stand with you for all time, reborn in a cycle of the four elements to ensure I may always be a part of all the peoples of this world. But for now, my time has come."

The lights began to dim as the Avatar slowly sank to the ground. Just as she slid completely and the last bit of shining white light disappeared, there was the sound of a baby's cry. The people still kneeling spoke together.

"And so the cycle begins."

The curtain fell.

The audience began to clap, slowly at first, then with greater passion. After a few moments, the curtain rose and the actors emerged one at a time to be acknowledged. But up in the Gundam booth, there was a still quiet.

"Quatre?" Duo asked gently. He was surprised to see a tear on Quatre's pale cheek. "Are you okay?"

Heero reached out in a rare gesture of affection and gripped Quatre's shoulder. "Is that what happened?"

"Yes," Quatre said softly. "La Jin was left alive after the other four helped her to use her energybending to pour their spirits into her, but she was never the same. She became the first Avatar for a short time, long enough to stop the battle and restore the peace between the nations. She lived only a few years, though, before the strain of it brought about her death. When she died, her spirit fused with the four who had been waiting for her, and they together became the next Avatar."

"Just like us," Wufei said softly. "Five individuals united as one, literally."

"It's why it was possible for us to exist at all," Trowa commented. "Because we were five once before, it was possible for us to return to being five when Avatar Yuy was killed."

"Cat?" Duo nudged his friend before putting an arm over his shoulders. "Why are you so sad? I can feel it," he said, rubbing his chest.

"It's just...I can remember it," he said. "Not like you remember things, but like you remember a dream, maybe. I remember La Jin's pain as her friends died to give her a chance to save their people. She was so proud of them, and yet it hurt so much."

"She was a brave, honorable, woman," Heero said.

"They all were," Wufei agreed. "We too are willing to die for the sake of this world. It is our legacy and we will strive to be worthy of it."

"And our future," Quatre said almost so quietly he couldn't be heard. But they were one, and what Quatre's voice didn't carry, his soul did. ::_To revive the true Avatar, we too will die together someday._::

The five of them rose to make their way out of the theater in a solemn silence, the echo of that ancient ache rippling through them all.


End file.
